Their Ray of Sunshine, Revised
by the everchanging
Summary: Warning: Is a Mary-Sue, but hopefully still a good piece of work.  Malarkey, Liebgott, and Doc find a treasure to be hidden in the snow, a treasure that helps bring to light a side of the men not usually seen.
1. Introduction

I have decided, after many requests, to revise my story, Their Ray of Sunshine, and repost it instead of permanently deleting it. Some parts of it (mainly the beginning) are fairly different than the original story, but the basic idea is still the same. New story, new name for the OC. The later chapters will probably be the same as before. So, let's have another go at this.

Disclaimer: Now, I am writing this purely for my enjoyment, nothing else. I am making no profit, etc. I do not own any characters or actual events in my stories, mainly the men of Band of Brothers. I do however own Christine and any OCs that I see fit to write about, along with any events I make up. This idea comes from the HBO miniseries and actors, not what actually happened or the real men. I mean no offense to anyone, especially the men of Easy company and anyone who served in World War II. This is purely my imagination. Also, as this is my imagination, I might not be historically accurate; I really don't care.

This story will be rated T for violence, language, gore and sexual themes.

In case you didn't catch it in the summary, this story contains a Mary Sue, though hopefully it doesn't totally ruin the story.


	2. Finding the Girl

"123" _indicates a change in POV or in time._

_Early November 1944 Bois Jacques_

It was early in the morning, around 0600 hours. Eugene Roe roped Joe Liebgott and Don Malarkey into helping him try to find another company to beg supplies from. The three were walking a few yards away from each other, trying to locate the trenches they were looking for but not lose sight of the others. It wasn't currently snowing, but there was a fresh coat of powder where the men were walking.

Malarkey was looking for any sign of their destination when his boot caught on something and he tripped. The other two men did not hear his soft landing, but someone else did. Malarkey raised his head and saw a girl's face peering out at him from under a snow-covered blanket. He had no idea what color her eyes or her hair were, but the face definitely belonged to a girl. She stared at him blankly and he had no idea what to say to her. He picked himself up, still staring at the girl. "Uh, guys? I think I found-"

Malarkey was cut off as a shot rang out. The other two had turned towards Malarkey when he started speaking and saw the lone German shoot Malarky. Liebgott quickly shot at the German and down went the German. Both Joe and Doc started to head over to where they saw Malarkey go down, but froze in their tracks. Sitting on top of Malarkey was a person. Doc, remembering that his comrade had been shot, snapped into action and ran towards Malarkey. When he got closer, he noted with confusion that the figure had extracted the bullet and was currently trying to stem the bleeding coming from Malarkey's shoulder.

123

Christine had felt a pull on the ropes that bound her wrist. She turned around and looked out from under the blanket that was making an attempt to keep snow from falling into the foxhole. There was a man wearing an American uniform but it was not her captor. He started to call out to his companions, whom she could see in the distance when a shot rang out. After he went down, Christine ran out of her foxhole to help him, not caring about the other shot she dimly heard.

The man was thrashing about on the ground. Christine tried to get a look at his bleeding shoulder, but couldn't see anything with his constant moving. She quickly sat on him, which seemed to get him to stay still long enough for her to stick two fingers into the wound and search for the bullet. It was tricky, trying to find the bullet with her hands bound together, but find it she did. With practiced ease, she extracted the bullet and threw it on the ground next to her and the man. The man was still conscious, but seemed to be in a state of shock and unaware of what was transpiring. She then attempted to cover the wound with her hands, to stem the bleeding. That's when she heard the two men that she had forgotten about approaching.

123

The girl's head flew up and her eyes grew wide. When Doc reached Malarkey, the girl fell off of her patient and started scooting away from the men as fast as she could, shaking her head. Doc gave Malarkey some morphine, poured some sulfa powder into the wound and started bandaging him up. "Hey Liebgott, go find out who she is and what she's doing out here."

Liebgott nodded then started towards the girl, gun ready. "Who are you? You a Kraut spy or something? Why you here? Answer me!"

The closer he got to her, the louder he yelled in a strident voice. He soon noticed that she had stopped moving backwards, though she continued to shake her head and struggle against something. Looking down at his side, he saw a rope, stretched taut from a tree behind him and his companions, to the girl's wrists. When he looked up, he saw she was also gagged.

'No wonder she didn't say anything. She couldn't,' Liebgott thought.

Liebgott decided to try a different, gentler approach. "Hey, it's ok. I'm not gonna hurt you. I just wanna help you. Here, stop struggling and let me get that gag off of you and untie your wrists."

When he was a few feet away, she started struggling even harder, causing him to pause. "Easy, there. I won't hurt you. You don't want me to come near you? Fine, I'll just cut the rope from here."

Doc had finished putting a bandage on Malarkey, who was now unconscious, and went to stand by Joe, who was pulling his bayonet out of a pocket. "What are ya doin'?" softly asked the medic.

"What's it look like? I'm going to cut this rope," came the short reply. The girl had finally stopped struggling, but still looked at the two men fearfully. As Joe was cutting the ropes, the medic started trying to soothe the girl with his calming Cajun accent, "Shh. It's okay. No, no. Don't move. We're gonna help ya, okay? That's it."

As soon as the rope was cut, Doc headed over to the girl, who tried to start running backwards before she even stood up. But Doc was quicker and he grabbed her shoulder. He caught her just as she passed out.

"I guess we'll just have to take her back. Oh, ouch. You got some nasty bruises on you, miss." Doc winced in sympathy as he looked down on the unconscious girl.

Joe came over and saw that her face was badly bruised and there was dried blood, though he could not immediately see a wound. "Huh. Wonder what she was doing out here?" he asked aloud.

"No idea, Joe, but we need to head back. You grab Malarkey and I'll take the girl. Malarkey isn't too bad off, but we need to get him back to camp, then to the new aid station in town."

Doc shifted the girl so that he could carry her in his arms like a child and Joe went back to get Malarkey. They headed straight back to where their foxholes were, completely forgetting their original purpose for being out. As they were trudging through the snow, Doc took some time to study the girl in his arms. Her face was pretty beat up, not enough so one couldn't tell that she was a girl, but enough to make it difficult to tell what she normally looked like. Her long hair was so matted and dirty that Doc couldn't even guess it's original color. There was dried blood on her ripped blouse and torn skirt. They looked like they had once been finer clothing, but had worn out from prolonged use.

'Huh. Maybe she was a nurse,' he thought. It would make sense. Young girl around Bastogne = nurse, however, young girl actually near front line in a foxhole = a problem. He continued his inspection and saw that she had on a pair of good, sturdy boots. 'Well hopefully that means she don't have frostbite.' Doc checked her fingers and found them cold to the touch, but otherwise in good condition. She looked light, but when he picked her up, he was a little surprised at her weight. He could tell she was skinny under her thin clothes, so this must mean she had some muscle on her. "Who are you?" the Cajun softly asked.

After half an hour of fumbling through the snow, Joe spotted their little headquarters. This was where officers like Richard Winters and Lewis Nixon got any official business done, be it figuring out plans, talking to the higher ups, etc. It was also where they would bring the wounded to wait for a ride into town. For a few days, the wounded actually stayed in the little tent, waiting for the new aid station to be built in town to replace the hospital that got bombed almost a week previously. Joe slung Malarkey down onto an empty table. Malarkey made a small noise of pain, but did not wake up.

Doc gently set the girl down, trying to decide how to proceed. After a moment of thought, he decided to take the gag off. He reached into his medic bag and pulled out the scissors Frank Perconte so kindly gave him (in reality, Doc emptied Perconte's bag, grabbed the scissors, and took off with a quick "thank you Perconte"). Doc cut the cloth, being careful not cut the girl. He felt the fabric stick to some skin and tried with varied success to not pull off too much skin. At this point, Joe had come to stand on the other side of the girl, watching Doc work. Both men were wondering who she was and how they came to find her in the middle of the forest, on the front line, in a foxhole, tied to a tree.

Doc started trying to peel the rope from her wrists, but the rope had frozen to the skin. By the time he got the rope off, her wrists had a small stream of blood trailing down to the floor. Doc quickly got some bandages to wrap up her wrists with. After that, he took a small piece of cloth and used some snow outside to wet it. He took the damp cloth and cleaned the blood from her wrists and her face. While cleaning her face, he saw that she had a large cut on the left side of her face, near the hairline. He hadn't noticed the cut until the cloth skimmed it and the girl took a sharp breath. He took care when cleaning around it, so as not to cause her anymore pain. It looked to be healing just fine, no signs of infection. He wrapped a bandage around her head, just to keep the deep cut clean.

The next thing on Doc's mental check list was to check her feet for frostbite. "Joe. Unlace that boot and take it off while I get this foot. Be nice to her shoes. They're good quality."

Once the shoes and socks were gone, the two men peered at the girl's pale feet. They looked to be in fine condition, not like feet that had been in the cold. Doc was beginning to think this girl knew how to care for herself out here.

Doc moved back up to her head and Joe quickly followed him. Doc looked at the state of her clothes and decided there was no point in saving them, so he started cutting away her blouse.

"What the hell are you doing?" Joe yelled as he watched the other man start stripping the unconscious girl.

"I'm checking to see if there are any other cuts. In case you didn't notice, there's an awful lot of blood just for a head wound. I'm cutting the cloth away since her clothes are torn already. No point in trying to salvage 'em. Now get me some blankets to cover her up with so she don't freeze," calmly ordered Doc. Joe grabbed two blankets and helped Doc put them over the lower half of the girl's body. Doc had cut away the blouse and gently pulled the material away. There was slight bruising and some minor cuts on her exposed skin. He saw that all of the cuts were already cleaned. Doc shifted her to her side, to check for any damage done to her back, but only found bruises.

The girl was wearing a bra which Doc cut away to see if it was concealing any more cuts or bruises. Both men turned slightly pink when Doc pulled the bra away, but Doc, ever the professional, quickly went back to work, looking for cuts to clean. He did not find any cuts on her small breasts, but there was definite bruising. Doc quickly pulled one blanket up to her neck, covering her exposed chest.

Doc moved down to her waist and moved the blanket still covering her lower half up towards her head. The skirt she was wearing was waist high. Doc cut away her skirt from her slim waist and pulled back in surprise.

"What is it?" Joe asked, looking to the girl's exposed body before swiftly pulling his head up to look questioningly at Doc.

"She ain't wearing any panties."

"So? What's that got to do with anything?"

"She was wearing a bra, but no panties. That ain't normal. It don't make sense."

"And how would you know when it's normal for a girl to wear panties, eh, Doc?" Joe joked. He thought for a moment, before conceding " Ah, guess you're right. I suppose it is kinda odd for a girl to wear a bra, but no panties."

Joe went back to looking at the girl's face, trying to find the answers to the questions both men had. Doc shook his head and went back to examining the girl. He saw large, dark bruises on the sides of her hips. They looked almost like fingerprints; like someone had grabbed her hips. Without really thinking, Doc placed his fingers over the bruises, not applying any pressure and then wham!

The girl started moving. She kicked Doc in the jaw, sending him back a few steps. She opened her eyes and saw Joe hovering over her and punched him in the face. His head snapped to the side in surprise. The girl was thrashing around, making a bit of noise.

"Grab her Joe! We don't want her hurting herself," yelled Doc. Joe reached for her flailing arms, trying to avoid any more hits. He grasped a wrist in each hand, but she continued to thrash.

"I need you to keep her still Joe!" Joe started to curse as she tried to pull her hands away, but did the only thing he could think of. He jumped onto the table, straddled the girl, and sat down, all while swearing in English and in German. Now she couldn't do much but kick out a little and pull Liebgott around.

Doc was by her head, urgently whispering, "It's ok. It's alright. We ain't gonna hurt you. We're just trying to help. Calm down. Calm down, it's ok." He grabbed her head and forced her to face him, repeating the words over and over again in his soft, Cajun accent.

"Get off. Get off me. Please don't hurt me," she hoarsely whispered, eyes squeezed shut, still trying to escape.

"Only if you calm down, miss." The girl took a deep breath and stopped moving. Her eyes opened to stare straight into the medic's. "'Kay Joe. You can get off now. I don't think she's gonna move again, right miss?" The girl gave a slight nod of her head. Joe gave a long sigh and went back to standing at her side, letting go of her wrists. His hair was disheveled and he was a little out of breath, but was unharmed expect for the bruise forming on the side of his face. Doc was in the same condition, only with a bruise on his jaw.

The commotion the girl raised caused a few passing soldiers to open the door.

"Everything all right in here, Doc?" one of the men asked. Doc ran to the door, preventing the soldiers from seeing the girl on the table.

"Yeah. But I need you to find Winters and Nixon. Tell them to come here and have them bring a uniform for someone about Luz's size," Doc ordered.

After closing the door and walking back to the table, Doc rearranged the blanket that had been thrown to the side during the girl's struggle. The girl stared at Doc as he started talking. "Hello, miss. My name's Eugene Roe and I am a medic, so most of the boys 'round here call me Doc. The man next to me is Joe Liebgott. Him and I, along with a friend of ours, found you. Actually, our friend found you, but then he got shot by a Kraut that was hanging 'round. Joe here got the Kraut and when we looked to our friend, you were there, takin' care of him. Joe tried to untie you, but you backed away, so we settled for cutting the rope instead. You tried to take off, but then you passed out. We carried you back here. I took off the gag and rope, along with some skin. Sorry 'bout that. I cut away your clothes to make sure you didn't have any major wounds and when I touched the bruises on yo' hips, you woke up to kick me in the jaw and punch Joe in the face. You know the rest. Now, I would like to finish my examination. Is that alright?"

She looked between the two men and slowly nodded before staring up at the ceiling. Doc moved back down towards her hips and cleaned a few cuts on her stomach. Joe had pulled up a chair and sat at the girl's side, watching her intently. The further down Doc went, the further he pulled down the top blanket, in an effort to give her a sense modesty. He gently pushed her thighs apart and saw dried blood trailing down her thighs. The girl knew what he was seeing and closed her eyes.

123

Her captor had left early that morning, after raping her several times late the previous night. Christine had been too tired to clean herself up, so she opted for sleep instead. She pondered the reason behind her lack of tears. At first, she hadn't want to give that man the satisfaction of making her cry. Christine did not cry easily. There were no tears after the bombing and realization that her parents were dead. There hadn't been time for tears, between caring for all of the wounded and searching for those trapped alive. But the tears sprang to her eyes the first time he raped her. She refused to let them fall while he was there, but as soon as he left, she allowed them to stream down her face. The fight continued the next few times he came back to rape her over and over again, but apparently, after a while, she expected the pain. There was no reason to cry; it wouldn't change anything. After that, no more tears. As Christine finished remembering her reason for the lack of tears, she rearranged her blankets and drifted off to sleep.

Christine woke later that morning to footsteps outside of her foxhole. She froze, praying it wasn't her captor. When she felt the tug on her rope, she looked outside, and saw a man on the ground, having tripped over the rope that prevented her from leaving.

After having passed out trying to run from the man's two companions, Christine woke to hands grabbing her hips. She reacted immediately, thinking it was her captor and kicked out. She found she was able to separate her hands, so she started flailing her arms about. She did not register the voices around her, but when she felt someone grab her wrists, she increased her struggles. When she felt someone atop her, her struggles grew frantic. Her mind screamed "No, no, no!" Finally, she realized someone was holding her head steady and telling her to stop moving. The voice promised the person on top of her would be gone if she stopped, so she stilled. The weight disappeared, but she held back a sigh of relief. She wasn't necessarily safe. They might still hurt her.

The man who the voice belonged to introduced himself, saying he was a medic and was cleaning her up. He had said he wouldn't hurt her and she believed him. Medics and doctors were safe, so when he politely asked if he could continue cleaning her up, she nodded. He was sincere and wouldn't harm her. Maybe he could help her. The hope was quickly replaced with shame when he gently nudged her thighs apart. She knew what he would see, but she did not stop him. She clenched her hands, her fingernails digging into her palms.

123

Liebgott stopped watching Doc when the examination recommenced. He stared at the girl's face. He glanced down and saw that she was digging her nails into her palms. He grabbed her hands and started prying her fists apart. The girl sharply turned her head towards Joe, eyes widening slightly.

"Doc already took care of your hands. He doesn't need anymore cuts to clean up." Joe continued to hold the girl's hands. She merely nodded and went back to staring up at the ceiling. The girl seemed to be appreciate having someone else's hands to hold and started squeezing Joe's hands when Doc cleaned up the area between her legs.

'What has this poor kid been through?' Doc mused silently. He saw bruising up and down her thighs, but the rest of her legs and her feet seemed free from any damage.

Doc straightened out to look at the girl's face. "Well, miss, you sure took quite a beating, but everything should heal up fine in a few days. You don't need stitches anywhere and we should be able to take the bandage off of your head soon."

However, before he could say anything else: "Doc, Nix and I are here. We also brought that spare uniform you asked for."


	3. Christine's Story

**Warning: Contains sensitive content, i.e. talk of kidnapping and rape.**

Doc went to the door and opened it enough to take the uniform from them.

"Thanks. I'll be out in a minute." Doc closed the door and took the uniform to the girl, placing it on her lap. "Do you think you need any help putting this on?" Doc asked in his soft voice. When she shook her head 'no', Doc continued talking, "Ok then. I'm going out to talk to the guys in charge here. They will want to meet you and ask you some questions." Doc turned and walked out of the tent.

The girl looked down at her hands, which were still encased by Joe's larger hands, up to the man that the hands were attached to. Joe saw her look between their joined hands then up to his face. "Oh. Sorry. I'll, um, go stand over here. So you can, uh, get dressed." He quickly dropped her hands in embarrassment and walked over to the other side of the tent, where he had lain Malarkey earlier. Joe stared at Malarkey's unconscious form, listening to Malarkey breathe and the rustle of clothes behind him.

123

Christine had jumped a little when she heard the knock at the door. She was relieved when Doc had stepped outside to talk to the visitors. She looked down at the clothes, then at her hands that where still being held captive by Joe's and then up to Joe's face. She was slightly pleased that Joe picked up on what she wasn't saying. When Joe had the decency to give her some privacy so that she could dress, she was very surprised but not at all unhappy.

After Joe had walked over to his friend, Christine watched him a moment to make sure he wouldn't turn around before hopping off the side of the table. 'Not like it matters much anyway. He and his friend, uh, Doc, have already seen everything. Doc probably even has a good guess as to what that man did to me,' Christine thought, ashamed at what had happened and humiliated that others should know.

First she laid the clothes out, then she dropped the blanket. There were a pair of boxers, a tank top, a tee shirt, pants, and two coats. There wasn't a bra, but she did not think that men on the front line would keep spare bras lying around. Anyways, her breasts were small and should be covered by all of the layers she was about to put on. There shouldn't be any problems. She attempted to dress quickly and started to pull her clothes on, trying not to aggravate her injuries and getting out the cold as soon as possible. She slipped those on then went to her socks and boots, which were at the end of the table. Bending over to put on her socks and boots hurt. After lacing up her boots, she picked up the blanket, folded it and set it on the table. The clothes were a little big, but not too bad. Christine felt her neck, missing the feel of her dog tags.

"You can turn around now," came the voice of the girl. Joe turned around slowly. The girl had folded the blanket and was standing at the edge of the table, facing Joe, but looking at the ground. He just stared at her, unsure of what to say. He didn't have to worry long.

"Miss? Are you dressed? The Captain would like to speak with you," a Cajun voice floated in from outside of the tent.

123

After Doc took the uniform from Nix, Nix and Winters looked at each other. "What's he even need a full set of uniforms for anyway?"

"I don't know Nix. I really just don't know."

Before the conversation progressed any further, Doc stepped back outside. Doc took a deep breath before looking Winters and Nixon straight in the eye. "We found something."

"What did you find, Doc?" Winters asked. His curiosity was piqued now and he started thinking. 'What could one find out here? Maybe some Krauts slipping through the line, but then we just search them and send them to HQ as a POW. Doc wouldn't act nervous from finding a Kraut and he definitely wouldn't waste a full set of clothes on a POW.'

Doc blew out a shaky breath before answering. "A girl. In the woods. Wrists were tied together and had a rope tying her to a tree. Also had a gag."

"Jesus," was all Nix could say.

Winters wanted to know the whole story. "So what exactly happened Doc? How'd you find her?" He paused a moment, "Is she in there?"

Doc nodded before recounting the story. He told the officers how he, Joe and Malarkey where on a supply hunt. How Malarkey started to say something and then was shot by a lone Kraut. How after Joe killed the Kraut, the two men saw the girl on top of Malarkey, tending his wound. How the girl scrambled away from them. How Joe cut the rope tethering her to a tree and how she passed out. How he cleaned up various cuts and saw the many bruises. And how she freaked out when his fingers brushed the bruises on her hips and when Joe restrained her. He concluded with, "She is in there now getting dressed. I think she has medical experience."

"What makes you say that?" asked Winters after taking a minute to take in what the medic just told him. Nix was still silently processing.

"Well, sir, most of her injuries were already treated and she knew what to do with Malarkey. Not many girls would go sticking her fingers into a shoulder wound and digging out a bullet without any instruction."

Nix finally spoke up. "He's right. Most of the men wouldn't know that and I doubt some young woman without any medical experience would know what to do. Most would probably just cry or scream their heads off. The more sensible ones might try to stop the bleeding, but that's about it."

Winters was thinking. Doc was probably right. But what would a nurse, for she had to be a nurse, to be so young yet experienced, be doing out on the line, tied to a tree? Winters looked up and saw that Doc seemed to have something else to say. "Anything else Doc?"

Doc looked uncomfortable and his face started to turn red. "Well sir, I think that she uh, might have, um. . . I think she might have been raped, sir," he mumbled. Winters and Nix both stared at Doc in shock. Doc pressed on, giving the reasons behind this conclusion, "It would explain a lot of things, like why she was out there and tied up; why she was afraid of me and Joe coming near her; why she had a bra, but no panties; why she was so sensitive to me touching the bruises on her hips; why she struggled when Joe restrained her; and finally, it would explain the dried blood caked on the inside of her legs."

The men shared a long silence. Doc did not know what else to say. Winters and Nix were shocked. They had no idea what to think now. First a girl is brought here, then she has medical experience and now she had been raped. This was just too much.

Winters, taking the initiative like the true leader that he was, finally spoke, "I would like to meet her. Will she talk to us, Doc?"

"I believe so, sir. She calmed down after I talked to her. She let me finish examining her and she let Joe hold her hands."

"Wait. Liebgott held her hands? Whatever for?" Nix asked, incredulous.

"She was clenching her hands to the point that her nails were cutting into her palms, so Joe was trying to help her relax a little, s'all."

"Mister Sarcastic, Always-ready-to-fight-and-cause-trouble, doing something nice? I don't believe it." Nix shook his head.

"You are right with the description of Joe, sir. But there's something about this girl. When you look at her, you want to protect her and not let anything bad happen to her." The Cajun tried to explain. "I'll go see if she's dressed."

"Miss? Are you dressed? The Captain would like to speak with you," a Cajun voice floated in from outside of the tent.

"I am dressed and ready to talk," came a female voice from within the tent. Doc opened the door and went inside. Nix and Winters looked at each other before following Doc in.

When Winters stepped inside, he saw Malarkey laying on table, a bandage on his shoulder. After looking at Malarkey for a second, he started to look around. He found Joe a little ways away from Malarkey. Doc was heading over to the second table and just past Doc, Winters saw the girl. 'Wow. Doc was right: she is really beat up.' Even without the bandage on her head, the bruises looked intimidating and painful. She was standing stiffly, looking between him, Nix, and Doc, who was approaching her. Winters heard Doc ask her how she was doing, but he was unable to hear her reply.

All of a sudden, she started walking towards him and Nix. She boldly held out her hand, "My name is Christine Engel."

Winters, after a moment of hesitation, shook her hand and introduced himself, "Captain Dick Winters of the 101st Airborne." He did not expect this type of forward and polite behavior from a girl who had been beaten and raped and taken to an unfamiliar place. After seeing her face though, he started to understand what Doc was talking about. Something about her made him want to keep her from all the harm in the world.

She went over to Nixon and introduced herself again. Nix, unsure, took her hand gently and shook it. "Captain Lewis Nixon, Intelligence Officer." Nix realized the same thing as Winters, after shaking her hand. She was trying to be strong, he could tell.

After she stepped away from Nixon, she looked at Winters expectantly. She obviously knew that he was in charge.

"Why don't you sit down?" It wasn't really a suggestion. It was an order. The girl gracefully sat on the table. Joe, who had sidled over next to the table unnoticed, hopped up next her, but not too close. Doc stood on her other side at the end of the table and leaned against the edge. Winters and Nix had grabbed two chairs and sat next to each other, facing the trio.

After everyone was as comfortable as they were going to get, Winters asked "So, Miss,

can you tell us a little about yourself? Where you are from would be a good place to start."

"I was born in Des Moines, Iowa. My father is, was, German and my mother French. Their families moved to America when they where children. I do not know how they both ended up in Iowa, but they attended the same medical school. They were brilliant surgeons. After working together for 2 years, they married. They started their own hospital that treated anything from scrapes to the stomach flu to performing major surgeries. Soon, they had me, their only child. I grew up fluent in English, German, and French. Most of my toys were hospital instruments. If I was not running around my parent's hospital, I was reading. I love learning and I will read anything I can. My parents home-schooled me so that by the time I was 12, I had a high school education. We lived in a small town and there were no universities around, so to further my education, my parents hired some staff that had been to college, not just medical school. The staff loved teaching me everything they knew and would even bring in their old textbooks for me to read. But the subject I loved learning most about was the biomedical field, becoming a doctor. My parents taught me everything they knew, and if I had been old enough, I probably could have gotten a license to practice medicine. I stopped my studies when the war came though.

My parents were very patriotic and the best in their field, so when the American government asked them to go to Europe to save soldiers, they readily agreed. The military wanted doctors and translators, thus making my parents ideal choices. My parents refused to travel unless I could come along. The government conceded and made tags for the three of us, because we were their doctors, their property. We gave everything of ours to a family friend, who was told to keep it if we did not come back. The only things we brought with us were clothes and some tools of the trade; the government would supply us with everything else. Two months after the war had started, we were on our way to Europe.

After arriving in Europe, we were sent to France, where most of the wounded were. We constantly moved to different hospitals, following the front line. The only time we stopped working, other than to eat and sleep, was to move hospitals. Well, on our birthdays, we didn't work. We would go out into whatever town we were at to see the sights. We would wear our cleanest clothes, go out to eat at a restaurant and maybe go see a movie. On my birthdays, they would let me go to the bookstore and buy two books. I was paid the same wages as an American nurse and my parents dealt with my salary. All I know is that I would earn enough for those books. I kept them in my bag, opting to keep the books instead of some extra clothes. I was not wasteful though, the shirts turned into bandages. My sixteenth birthday was the first birthday away from home."

"Wait. How old are you?" Nix interrupted.

"I came to Europe when I was 15. I am now 17. I have been here, trying to piece soldiers back together for two and a half years." Christine grew quiet and her eyes lost some of their shine. The men did not know what to say, but they were all thinking the same thing, 'This girl should not be here. She should be at home, wearing pretty dresses and make-up, going out to the movies, and having fun. She shouldn't be here, in the war, right on the line, up to her elbows in blood and guts.'

"Can you tell me how you ended up in Bastogne, Christine?" prompted Winters. While he was interested in her history, he needed to know how she got here.

Christine looked up at Winters. She saw the kindness in his eyes and knew that he was trying to help her, not hurt her. "Like I said, we followed the line. The line ended up in Bastogne, so we ended up in Bastogne. We were actually a little farther off the line, but not far enough to escape the Germans. About a week ago, one of the major military guys wanted a report on the hospital: how many wounded we had, the status of the staff, what supplies we needed, that stuff. There had been a whole wave of wounded soldiers that just came in, so my parents decided to send me instead. My parents made me wear my mother's only skirt into town. It was the only article of clothing not stained with blood. As I was being driven back to town, the town was bombed. When we got there, almost no buildings were standing. I didn't think, I just acted. Some of the non-wounded soldiers organized everyone and had them start gathering the injured. I worked almost automatically, and didn't even think of my parents. There was just too much to do. After the wounded were evacuated to another hospital, I realized that I hadn't seen my parents."

Christine stopped speaking. She hadn't cried then and she wouldn't cry now. Crying wouldn't change anything, she told herself. She didn't know she was clenching her fists until she felt someone tug at her fingers.

"I thought I told you that Doc doesn't need to go cleaning up anymore cuts on you," Liebgott said softly, with a small smile. He saw a corner of her mouth lift as she looked at him. He heard the silent thank you as she held his hands.

Winters watched the scene unfold, thinking, 'Huh, who would have thought that Joe had a bit of a soft side to him.'

Christine took a deep breath before continuing, "I asked around and finally one of the nurses told me that they had been in the hospital and were killed like everyone else. I thanked her and went to look for any more wounded around town. There weren't many people about. I was so caught up in looking for more survivors that I didn't notice him until he was right behind me. He said 'My, aren't you a young one. Yes, I think you will do.' I felt a sharp pain in my head and then lost conscious. When I woke up, my wrists were tied and I had no idea where I was. The man was on top of me. He said that he was waiting for me to wake up. He said that he was glad that I was wearing a skirt, as it would make things easier. I finally figured out what he was talking about." Here, Christine's voice grew softer.

"When I started to scream, he hit me. Blood filled my mouth and I started coughing. He ripped off my underwear as I tried to scream again. He hit me again and then used the underwear to gag me. Then he raped me for the first time. After he was done, he pulled my dog tags out of my shirt and ripped them from my neck. He said that the tags were my identity and now that he had the tags, he owned me. He put my tags in one of his pockets. He said, 'Yes, you are now property of Corporal Dennis Layman.'"

As soon as Christine named her tormentor, all four men tensed. She had captivated them with the tale of her kidnapping and now that they had a name to go with the man they already hated, they were ready to tear the sick bastard to pieces.

'Layman. Layman. Where have I heard that name?' Winters thought to himself. He picked up names fast and never forgot a face. The name was familiar, but not extremely so. He must be a replacement. The latest batch of replacements came with Dog Company and some of them were holed up next to Easy. It was a small group, Taylor, Michaels, and . . . "Layman," he said softly.

Nix looked up sharply. "You know him?"

"Yes. No. Not really." Dick sighed. "He's one of the replacements from Dog in the foxhole by Sisk and Perconte."

"He's here?" Christine asked, voice shaking with fear. She started trembling. Joe squeezed her hands reassuringly. He briefly thought about pulling her into a hug, but then decided she would probably wouldn't react well considering her history and opted for letting her cut off blood flow to his hands instead.

"No. He's further down the line and probably out on a patrol," Winters said. He didn't know where Layman was, but he didn't want to upset Christine. "We will take care of him in a bit. However, Christine, can you please continue your story?"

"Well, after he raped me again, he left. He would come back, I don't know how often, but every time he came, he would pull out his dog tags, probably to remind me that I was his, and then he would rape me. Sometimes he would beat me. After he left, I would try to clean myself up. There were plenty of blankets in the foxhole, so I used one to clean my cuts. I suppose he did not want his new toy to freeze to death. I found that my wrists were attached to a rope, tied to a tree. This was probably to keep me from running away. I would press snow into the gag and almost drank it like water to keep myself hydrated. I suppose I survived on water alone and the fat stored in my body. My parents and I were well fed, so that's probably why I did not die of starvation."

She stopped talking in surprise, as an apple was thrusted at her. Nix held the apple out. "Here. Eat this. Its light and should keep you going until we can get you some real food."

"Thank you." Christine let go of one of Joe's hands. She took the apple and tried not to eat it too fast. Winters was secretly impressed with Nix's scrounging abilities. C'mon, an apple, in the middle of winter in the Bois Jacques? That's quite a feat.

After she finished her apple, she grabbed Joe's hand again and wrapped up her tale. "So, the same routine followed everyday, wait for Layman, he has his way, he leaves, I clean myself up, drink snow, sleep, do it all over again. Layman had left a little while ago and I had been too tired to do anything but sleep. I woke up when I felt a pull on my wrists, it turns out that he," points to Malarkey lying on the table, "had tripped over the rope. He started to say something when he got shot. I went over to him to help him. He wouldn't stop moving, so I sat on him. His struggles lessened enough that I was able to pull the bullet out. I started to stem the bleeding when I saw his companions approach me. I did not know what they wanted, so I tried to run away. All I could think of was Layman. I don't really remember what happened after that until I felt someone touch the bruises on my hips. I kicked out and realized that my wrists were free. I had thought that Layman was there and I was trying to defend myself. I heard yelling and then felt someone on top of me, so thinking it was Layman, I struggled harder. Finally Doc grabbed my face and got me to calm down. When I calmed, he explained who he was and that he was trying to help me. That's my story."

While Winters was digesting all of this, Christine turned to Doc. "Sorry for kicking you. I wasn't sure what was going on and . . ." she trailed off.

"It's ok. Didn' hurt that much," Doc assured her. He didn't want her to feel any worse than she already was. Actually, Doc felt a little guilty about causing her to wake with such fear. The rational part of his brain knows that it wasn't something he could control, but he still feels bad for causing her pain.

"For a broad, you pack a bit of a punch, though nothing too dangerous. In fact, I barely felt it when you clipped my cheek. No, don't worry about me, just fret over Doc's pretty face over there," Liebgott prattled on.

"I was getting there. I am sorry for punching you Joe. _Real sorry._ Are you ok?"

"Of course I am. I just said that it didn't hurt, didn't I?"

'It's good to see Joe acting sarcastic again,' thought Winters. "So, Christine, what would you like to do now?"

"Well, sir, I would like to continue working for the military. It's not like I have anything else to go back to. Also, I would like my dog tags back, if possible."

Nix jumped in, "I think we can arrange for your tags back. You said Layman had them right?" When she nodded, he continued, "We'll just make a little trip to HQ and kill three birds with one stone. We'll talk to Colonel Sink about getting you a job, find/lock up Layman, and get your tags back."

"I think it's a good plan, but let's make that four birds. Maybe we can even get Malarkey to the hospital," Winters added

Doc looked over at Malarkey. "Eh, he won't die anytime soon, but I don't want to have to deal with him when he wakes up."

Winters nodded his head in agreement, "Well its settled then, I'll get the jeep and we'll take a trip to HQ."


	4. Author's Note

To all those wondering what is going on,

I have had some requests, specifically from **BubbaSue**, to start this story again. While I don't know if I will add any new chapters, I will edit and upload the chapters from the original. Let me know if you have any questions and feel free to comment on the story.

Respectfully,

the everchanging


	5. Meeting with Colonel Sink

Winters and Nixon went outside and pulled the jeep around so that it was in front of the tent. "Hey Joe. Help me with Malarky here," Doc called out.

Joe slowly let go of Christine's hands. His head was filled with racing thoughts, mostly with pity for Christine and hatred towards Layman and the war that had taken so much from her. His body reacted automatically and helped Doc take Malarky out to the jeep. Winters came back into the tent as the boys were leaving. "I would like you to come with us to HQ. I have to tell my superior, Colonel Sink, about all of this and I will make sure to ask him to find a place for you."

"I will come with you. I have already met Colonel Sink."

"Really?" asked Winters, intrigued.

Christine nodded. "Yes. He was the one who told us about the job before we shipped out from the States and he would check up on us from time to time after he arrived in Europe." Winters knew that Christine was referring to her parents and herself whenever she said 'us'. Christine continued, "He seems like the type of man who looks after those under him. There is something that I would like to ask you before we get there. Would it be fine with you if I asked Colonel Sink to let me stay with you? I would be a field nurse and it sure seems like you boys could use the help. It's not like I have anywhere else to go." Christine looked at Winters with hope shining in her eyes.

Winters was a little hesitant to answer. He wasn't sure about having a young girl out here on the line and surrounded by men. Christine saw his hesitation and pressed on, "Please, sir. I have the experience, I have been out here for longer than any of your men, and the only difference between what I would do now than what I did before is that I would be around men who aren't having wounds treated in a hospital."

'She has a point I suppose,' Winters thought. He regarded her for another second before answering. "It is fine with me if you stay, but the decision is up to Colonel Sink."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," Christine's eyes brightened up and her face relaxed a little out of the slightly tense position it held before.

Winters ducked his head, but not before Christine saw a small smile appear on his face. He would do whatever he could to help out this girl. The two headed out to the jeep where Nixon sat in the driver's seat, Doc and Joe in the back and Malarky, lying on the hood acting as the windshield. "Nice try Nix, but I'm driving," Winters said with a wide smile.

Nixon pouted, "Aww. Come on, Dick. It's not like I'm going to crash or anything. You never let me do anything fun."

Winters chuckled at Nixon's whining. "Move over Nix. That's an order." Nix did as he was told with a small pout still on his face. He was getting comfortable and crossing his arms as Christine climbed into the backseat. She ended up squished between Doc and Joe. There was a rather steady stream of small talk for the majority of the ride, mostly Nixon asking Christine whatever random questions came into his mind. Christine answered the questions, a little hesitantly and with few words at first, but towards the end of the ride, she was comfortable enough to have a real conversation with Nixon. Occasionally one of the others would join in. Christine found she was comfortable sitting with and talking to the four men in the jeep. She felt that she could trust them and she started to relax; however she refused to think about what her future would hold for fear of panicking.

After a bit, Malarky woke up with a groan of pain. Nixon leaned forward and told Malarky that he had been shot and they were taking him to the aid station to properly get patched off. Malarky, pacified, decided to close his eyes and enjoy not being shot at for the remainder of the car ride.

Winters pulled into town and parked the jeep in front of the aid station. Doc and Joe hopped off, picked up Malarky and carried him inside of the aid station. "Now you boys try to get a hot meal in you, you hear?" Winters called after the boys.

Nixon got out of the jeep and waited while Winters helped Christine out of the jeep, like the gentleman he was. Winters and Nixon started walking off to HQ with Christine a step behind them.

A knock on the door. Christine felt sure that her two companions heard her heart racing. "Come in," came the voice of an older man. Nixon opened the door and held it open for his friend and Christine. As Christine was about to walk through, he gave a dramatic bow and with a sweep of his arm, ushered her in. Christine stifled the small fit of giggles in her throat and managed to keep a straight face when she nodded her thanks to Nixon. He in turn bowed his head with a very serious look on his face. Both Winters and Sink, who was sitting at his desk, were suppressing smiles while witnessing Nixon's childish antics. Sink looked at the trio and greeted them. "Good day Captain Winters. And to you too, Captain Nixon. And who do we have here? Oh. I remember you. Christine. You and your parents came before we did. The brilliant surgeons, and you helped them. Even before you set foot in the war, you were more qualified than our oldest nurses here. But I thought you were killed when the hospital was bombed, along with your parents." Sink's brow was furrowed in confusion.

"I was not in the hospital at the time, sir, but my parents were and they are dead." Christine said without her voice catching once, which she was rather proud of.

"Well I'm sorry to hear that Christine," said Sink, who truly was sorry for the girl losing her family and the army losing two of the finest surgeons. "Though I am glad that you are still ok. But where were you? None of the other nurses could find you. You've been missing for a week and now show up with these two, and a rather colorful face," Sink added after having seen her bruised face.

Winters cut in, "Actually, sir, that's what we wanted to talk to you about. Three of our men found her, in rather . . .unusual . . . circumstances, and after hearing her story, we decided to bring her to you."

Sink looked up at Winters and then back over to Christine before asking, "So Christine, what is your story? How did you get found?"

Christine took a deep breath before answering, "Well, sir, basically, I was kidnapped."

"Kidnapped? By whom?" Sink questioned, one eyebrow raised.

"By Corporal Dennis Layman, sir," Christine answered.

Sinks face grew dark before he called over a runner. "Find me Laymen and tell him to report to me immediately. Also, get me Speirs." He looked back to Christine and his face softened. "Are you alright?"

"I will be, sir. Thanks to the men who found me and brought me here." Both officers had tensed when Christine had told Sink that she had been kidnapped and they had scooted towards her. Feeling, rather than seeing the two men behind her, Christine warmed at their support.

Sink was quiet for a minute before, "I think we will wait for Laymen and Speirs to arrive before I ask you to recount your story." Christine nodded, though she was nervous at the thought of seeing her old captor once again. Sink looked over to Winters and Nixon. "Now, I happen to believe this young lady here, though I will wait to hear Corporal Layman's story before making any decisions. Also, Corporal Layman is being promoted, so, what do you think about Speirs leading Easy Company?"

Winters answered, "Well sir, that's your decision, but I do believe Speirs is a good leader and I think he will do well for Easy, sir."

Silence filled the room for what seemed to Christine, a long ten minutes. There was a knock at the door and Layman strolled in. Even though he had no idea as to why he was being summoned, he was confident that it was nothing bad.

Sink greeted him, "Ah. Corporal. Nice of you to join us." A few steps into the room and Layman decided to look at the other occupants and when he spotted Christine, his face paled and he turned around to scuttle out of the room. However, his escape was cut short when he ran into something. Something being Lieutenant Speirs. "Colonel Sink," Speirs acknowledged Sink before looking at the man trying to get by him. "Corporal Layman. I believe you were also summoned. You must be confused. The colonel is behind you," Speirs said with a face and voice completely devoid of emotion, though he was pleased internally at seeing Layman squirm.

"Yes, um, my mistake." Layman reluctantly turned around with his gaze on the ground.

"Very good. Now perhaps you can move out of my way and let me in," Speirs suggested.

Layman scurried off to the side, trying to become invisible. Speirs, ever the obedient soldier stated, "Sir, you requested my presence."

"That I did, Lieutenant, but for now, I would just like you and Corporal Layman to listen to a story. You see, Easy found this girl out in the woods and she was just about to tell us how she got there, now weren't you, my dear?" Sink looked at Christine after having watched Layman grow even more pale and attempt to shrink farther into the corner. Christine had also lost a few shades of color to her face, but it was hard to notice under all of the bruises. Speirs look as the girl with blatant curiosity in his eyes. He really wanted to know why she was here and what he had to do with all of this. Both Winters and Nixon were glaring daggers at Layman, who was oblivious to the two men who would probably gut him if given the chance.

Sink had to call her name twice before Christine shook her head free of her nightmares and looked at him. She took a deep breath and began recounting what had happened to her in the past week.

As soon as she said his name, Layman leapt forward, "Lies. Don't believe her. Would you really believe some little girl playing nurse over an enlisted officer? She's just a lying little whore-"

Both Nixon and Winters threateningly stepped towards Layman with murder in their eyes before Sink cut them off, "Be quiet and stop moving. Let her finish her tale. Your outburst is a poor reflection on you, Corporal. And you will refrain from using such language in either my presence or this upstanding young lady's. Now, without further interruption, please continue."

Christine quickly looked over at Layman whose face had gone back to white after having been red during his little outburst. She continued her tale, which took about five minutes to finish. She finally got to the part of waking up with Doc examining her. "I woke up in the tent, given new clothes and told my story to the captains here. After that, we brought the wounded man to the aid station and came here." Nixon stepped forward and squeezed her shoulder. Christine looked up at him and gave him a small smile that he instantly returned.

Sink gave them a nod before turning his gaze to Layman. "What do you have to say Corporal?"

But before he could get too far into his denials, Speirs spoke up. "Sir, she said that he took her tags and that he keeps them in one of his pockets. I say we search his pockets and if he has them, he's guilty." Layman started shaking, still spouting protests and pleas of innocence.

"Wonderful idea, Lieutenant Speirs. Winters? Could you locate Christine's dog tags please?" Sink requested with a ghost of a devious smile on his lips.

Winters walked over to Layman, face expressionless. He reached into one of Layman's pockets. Lucky guess, for on the first try, he found the prize. Dog tags. With the name Christine Engel engraved on them. Winters turned and gave them to Sink.

"Guilty. That's it. You are a disgrace to the Airborne and to me. You are hereby dishonorably discharged and I think we'll let the MP's deal with you." With that, a pair of MP's came in and drug Layman out. Sink turned to Speirs, "Lieutenant, I am now putting you in charge of Easy Company."

"Yes, sir." Speirs was disgusted at the actions of Layman, especially since the bastard came from his company. However, he was secretly glad to be in charge of the best company in the Airborne.

For a few moments, there was no noise. Christine gathered her courage and asked Sink, "Sir, could I possibly be a field nurse for . . . Easy? I . . . I do not have any other place to go and I would like to help still."

"And why should I let a young girl like you out onto the line?" Sink eyed Christine critically and waited for her response.

"Because sir, I have as much medical expertise as a certified doctor back in the States. I have been on the line since this war started. Also, if I was a field nurse, I could save the lives of men who wouldn't make it waiting to be taken to a doctor."

"That's what the medics are for, but we are low on medics. It's not like I can really afford to turn down the offer of another medic," Sick conceded. He knew that she was adept at what she did and had just wanted to hear her arguments, which were very well reasoned out. "Very well. You will be a field nurse, following and treating the men of Easy Company. If it is all right with you, I will hold your pay for you until we can set up something, like a bank account. Do you know what your parents did with your money?"

Christine knew that she had been getting paid for her work, but she had no idea what her parents did with the money. "No, sir, I do not know what my parents had arranged, but I would be very grateful if you would hold my money for me. I don't think I will need it with me. There's not too much to buy out on the line anyway," answered Christine, with a small attempt at humor.

Sink gave a small laugh at her comment. "Perfect. Now you can return to that hell-hole out there in much better company than before. I am truly sorry for what has happened to you Christine. You are a brave and strong young woman. Now go out there and help those boys. All of you are dismissed."

Christine said "Thank you, sir," and gave him the largest smile she could manage with her bruised face. The three officers saluted. All of them exited the office. Christine and Speirs then looked to Winters, as he was in charge.

"I suppose we should go pick up Doc and Joe," sighed Winters. They did not have to go far, the two men were a little ways off, watching the building. As soon as they saw Christine, they headed over.

"Did you boys get a hot meal?" Winters asked. Both nodded. "Good. Now meet your new CO, Lieutenant Speirs." Both men saluted.

Joe looked over to Christine. "So, what are you going to do now?"

Winters answered before her, "She is going to continue working, only as a field nurse."

"Yep," Nixon joined in as he threw an arm around her shoulders and faced Doc. "I got you another medic, Doc. Happy Birthday."

Doc frowned. "But it's not my birthday." Everyone else laughed while Doc continued frowning. "Anyways, I picked up a few boxes of supplies. They're in the jeep."

The group headed back to the jeep. Christine caught Winters and Nixon by the sleeve. She held onto their sleeves and looked at the ground before mumbling out, "Thank you for your support in there and I promise that I will do my best out there to help and not cause any problems."

Nixon smiled while Winters said, "We believe you and we are happy to look out for you. You aren't causing any problems."

With that, Nixon got into the jeep and sat in the middle while Winters slid in behind the wheel. Speirs got in and sat on the other side of Nixon. Christine was in back, squished between the other two and under piles of medical supplies. Using the same method on Joe and Doc as she used on Nixon and Winters, Christine tugged their sleeves to get their attention. When they both turned to look at her she said, "Thank you both for all you have done."

Doc smiled. "It's no problem. It will be nice to have some help out there, although," here his smile twisted into a rather evil grin, "I'm not sure Joe here can live with the fear of you giving him another black eye."

Joe immediately protested, "I'm not afraid of a broad. It didn't even hurt. And she got you too, you bastard!" Joe continued to rant for a little bit with Doc and Christine laughing. Winters and Nixon chuckled but continued with their own conversation. They were used to 'Liebgott tantrums' and didn't feel like trying to stop him. Speirs really didn't care and continued watching the snow-covered countryside roll by.

Christine just had to add, "I really am sorry Joe. I didn't mean to hurt you. Please forgive me for hurting you."

"I told you, it didn't hurt. It's just that pansy over there whose makin' stuff up," Joe said. He slowly backed off his ranting. The laughter dwindled down and a peaceful silence drifted over the jeep. Doc was back in his own personal hell, trying to forget all of the pained screams and anguished faces he has encountered in this war that continue to haunt him. Joe let his mind wander, thinking of anything as long is it did not involve the war or home. Speirs was thinking about the pathetic excuse for an officer who could kidnap and rape a girl, a nurse in fact. Nixon was contemplating his next plan for obtaining some more Vat 69 while Winters focused on everything he could do to make sure as many men from Easy got back home as safe as possible. And Christine, well she was thinking about meeting the men she would be going through the rest of the war with.


	6. Introducing the Boys

Winters stopped the jeep. Everyone filed out. "Joe and Doc, do not tell anyone about how Christine was found. You may say that you met her when we picked her up at regiment, but that is all. Do not say anything about Layman. You are dismissed," Winters said. The two men saluted then walked off. After watching them walk off, Winters turned to his remaining companions. "I suppose I should tell the boys about their new CO, right Ron?"

Speirs shrugged. "That's probably a good idea."

Winters nodded before continuing, "Well I suppose you should come with me while I tell the boys the news. Also, this will be the perfect time to introduce our new field nurse. Are you up for meeting the men, Christine?" Winters looked over at Christine who was looking at her surroundings, as if to make sure nothing would jump out of the trees and attack her.

"Yes sir." Truthfully, Christine was fairly apprehensive about meeting Easy. Most of the men she met were doctors or wounded soldiers. The doctors did not have to take much notice of her, they only needed to listen to what she said in order to save a man. The wounded soldiers that she met, she only stayed in contact with for a few days, until they went AWOL or were moved to a hospital back in the states for recovery. She did not have to worry if they would like her or wished her harm, for those men just wanted her medical skill or someone to hold their hand through the pain. There was no getting to know one another, other than who had medical skill and whatever soldiers told her in the grips of morphine and pain.

These men would be different. She would be living with them until the war ended. She would constantly see them, talk to them and get to know them. It would be impossible for them not to see her as a person, instead of a pair of hands. Christine was unsure of how to act around them. It probably didn't help that she was naturally shy and socially awkward. She didn't have many friends back home, let alone anyone close to the same age. 'Well, I guess I will learn in no time,' Christine thought.

Christine turned her attention to the world outside of her thoughts and noticed that the men had started to walk away. She hurried to catch up to them.

She reached them just in time to catch the end of Nix's excited speech, "Oh, boy. The men are in for a big surprise. We leave and then come back with a real CO and a field nurse. They're gonna love us."

Winters pretty much ignored him. "It's just about lunchtime, so most of the men should be around. Rather convenient, really."

Speirs walked along mutely, though, if one was observant, they might be able to catch the subtle glances he sent to make sure Christine was still with them. It seems that he was still fascinated by her.

Soon enough they reached the clearing where all of the men had gathered to eat. Winters strode right into the center, or as close to the center as possible, of the crowd. "Alright men, I have some good news."

"The war's over?" a hopeful voice called out.

"No, we're not going home yet. However, our stay has just improved a little bit."

"You mean we get real food and winter clothing?" another hopeful voice asked.

"No," Winters said patiently before continuing, "I would like to introduce Easy's new CO, Lieutenant Speirs." Speirs stepped forward into the silence. Everyone stared at him with gaping mouths. They were nervous at the prospect of having to face the meanest and craziest bastard in the Airborne. Those rumors had to mean something, right?

After a moment, George Luz had the courage to call out, "Wait, is Foxhole Norman gone then?"

Speirs answered, "Yes. I am taking over for him." This was immediately met with cheers and applause. "I do not believe Lieutenant Winters was finished," he added sharply. This caused all of the men to immediately shut their mouths.

Winters cleared his throat. "Besides a new CO, Easy also has a new field nurse." Nixon gently, but firmly, pushed Christine up next to Winters. "Her name is Christine and she has years of medical training. Now I would like you all to treat her respectfully, and if you do, she might be kind enough to sew you up when you get shot. I do not want to hear any problems from our nurse. Understand?" He gave them all stern looks, to emphasize the 'be nice to her' order.

There was a chorus of "Yes, sir" from the men. No one was sure of what to say. They were happy to have a female around, but it was pretty clear that there wouldn't be anything . . . interesting . . . going on. Another medic was always welcome, but this wasn't really the place for a woman. They also didn't know what to think about her bruises or the bandage wrapped around her head. What kind of nurse were they getting?

Winters turned to Christine with a small smile. "You are probably hungry. I am, so how about we eat?" Christine nodded and Winters led her through the food line. After getting some food, Winters deposited Christine with Doc, leaving Doc with instructions to give her a rundown on her new job.

Doc and Christine ate in silence. Even though she focused on her food, Christine could feel the curious stares of the rest of the men on her. She started to grow uncomfortable. Doc noticed this, "Ah, don't worry. They're a good bunch. Least they're willin' to wait for you to eat before attacking you with questions. You're kinda lucky. Most new guys are ignored or outright scorned." His rich, Cajun accent soothed Christine.

As they finished eating, Doc gave Christine the basics of field medicine. It boiled down to this: someone gets injured. Someone screams "Medic". You run towards that sound. You get there and fix him up. If there are more calls for a medic, patch the guy up enough so that he won't die on the way to a hospital. If he's the only one injured, patch him up like you would in a hospital. Christine thought that was fairly simple.

The men waited fifteen minutes before their curiosity got the better of them. "That's it. I want to meet her," said Skip as he shot up. He practically ran over to her before thrusting out his hand, "The name's Skip Muck. You can call me Skip or you can call me Muck. Whatever you want."

Christine took his hand, a little taken aback by his exuberant behavior. "Hello, Skip. My name is Christine Engel."

Skip didn't return her hand after he shook it. Instead, he turned and started to take her back to the boys. "I'll introduce you to everyone. We have a motley crew here. Some of us are better looking than others."

At this Perconte let out a cry of protest. "Hey! I know you're not talking about yourself Skip."

Skip remained unfazed and ventured closer to where Perconte and a few others were standing about. "That short guy over there is Frank Perconte. He's a loud Italian who brushes his teeth too many times a day to count. The big guy next to him is Bull Randleman. Bull here caught a piece of exploding tank in Holland. Alley is the guy leaning against the pole," Skip pointed, "He got hit twice. You'd think he'd learn to be more careful, but I guess not. Maybe he likes going to the hospital to flirt with the nurses." Even though Christine knew that if a soldier was truly wounded there was no real flirting, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Ah shut up Skip. Next time, why don't you get hit and then we'll see if you want to flirt while you're bleeding you're guts out," Alley shot back.

"The two over there are Joe Toye and Bill Guarnere, or as we like to call him, Gonorrhea." At this Christine made a face, which Skip merely laughed at. He pointed to another man saying "That little thing over there? That's Darrell "Shifty" Powers. He's the best shot in the whole damned world I do believe."

Shifty blushed slightly. "Oh, no Skip. My dad is a far better shot than me. He could shoot the wings off a fly," Shifty said modestly.

Skip shook his head and leaned over to whisper in Christine's ear, "Bullshit. He's a great shot. Anyways," Skip continued, still having not released Christine, "The man over there, with the amused grin on his face, that's First Sergeant Carwood Lipton. He's been in charge of us, looking after us like a concerned parent. He got a piece of shrapnel to the face and another piece nearly took out his nuts." Christine blushed fiercely. This stuff didn't bother her if she was treating a patient, but out in the open like this, she was very uncomfortable. Lip shook his head while grinning. "The blond guy next to him is Buck Compton. He's our platoon leader. He got shot in the ass. One bullet, four holes." Buck turned around and pointed to his butt, grinning. At this, Christine had to laugh.

Skip continued to lead her around the clearing, telling her everyone's name and story. "See that skinny little guy over there, sitting on the tree trunk? That's Popeye. He got shot in his scrawny butt back in Normandy. That other skinny little guy sitting next to him is-"

"Hey Christine," said Liebgott with a soft smile.

"Hello, Joe," she meekly replied.

"Wait, you already know Lieb?" Skip questioned. Christine wore a look of confusion at the nickname, so he clarified. "You already know Liebgott?"

"I had helped take Malarky to the hospital in town, so I was there when Winters picked her up," Joe cut in. He remembered Winters' orders about keeping their initial meeting a secret.

"You should stop monopolizing our new nurse's attention like that, soldier," came of the voice of Colonel Sink. Christine turned around, expecting to see Colonel Sink, and instead got a guy, about her height with brown hair and wide grin.

Skip looked annoyed before telling Christine who that was. "That's George Luz, our radioman and part-time comedian. He likes to imitate people's voices, and surprisingly, no one has shot him for sneaking up on them." Skip held on to Christine's hand a second longer before releasing it to stalk over to George. "I was just helping out and introducing her to the boys. No need to get jealous."

Christine had stopped listening to their argument and tried to decide what to do next. She wanted to go back to Doc, but he had disappeared.

She was still deciding what to do when Joe called out to her, "Come sit over here." He patted a spot on the trunk right next to him and no one else. She sat down. There was enough room for her to sit a couple of inches away from him before she fell off the end of the trunk. Many of the men trickled over to give their own introductions. Christine tried her best to remember the names that went with the faces. If she was going to be out here with them, she should try to get to know them.

Bill had come over and started asking her questions about her life before the war. She told them about growing up in a hospital and how she loved to learn and read. She patiently answered questions, though she was uncomfortable being the center of attention. Without even realizing it, she began scooting closer to Joe. Things were going just fine until Bill asked, "You said you came here with your parents, right? So, where are they?"

Christine's eyes lost their shine and her face grew solemn. Bill immediately felt guilty for asking, "It's alright, you don't have to-"

Christine cut him off "No. I'm fine. They died when the hospital was bombed a week ago."

All of the men around her started saying their condolences and gave her sympathetic looks. Even though they had just met her, the men were sad to see their new nurse upset. George then asked, "Is that where you're bruises are from?"

Christine and Liebgott tensed. "Yeah, I got banged up during the bombing, but nothing too serious. I wasn't in the hospital like my parents where," she said quietly. Most of it was true, so she hoped that no one could see through her lie. After that, the questions returned to safer, happier topics.

Then Skip had to ask, "You got a boy back home?"

Christine ducked her head and blushed, though it was hard to see under the bruises, "No. I was not seeing anyone. I have never been in a relationship."

The men started asking her why not and questions of that manner. She didn't answer. She had never truly been interested in a relationship. Her first love was learning and the boys her age were just too immature and narrow-minded for her. Christine was so embarrassed with all of the attention that she wished she could sink into the snow.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Doc had returned. "Why don't you come with me. Winters asked me to show you around the line and where the foxholes are." Christine smiled up at him gratefully and got up to follow him.

Liebgott looked at where Christine had been sitting. His side felt colder than ever since coming to Bastogne. Christine hadn't realized it, but she had sidled right up next to him and it had warmed his side. Now that she was gone, his scowl returned and he went back to his foxhole, tired of the talk.

"Man, she is great company, better to have around than those stupid replacements. She's seen war, and won't get us Toccoa men killed" Luz said after a bit. He was happy to have someone around who wasn't fresh out of training or someone who has seen enough war to be too weary to remember the good in life.

"Yep," Buck agreed. "And it will be nice having another medic around. I hope it's not too much for her." Buck was worried about how well a young woman would do out here. He knew he wouldn't want his girlfriend out here on the line, or even as a nurse in a hospital. There are just some things a person shouldn't have to see.

Guarnere snorted, "Eh, I wouldn't worry too much about her. She's been here longer than we have. She'll be fine."

Lipton stayed silent. He worried over her emotional and physical well-being as well as the men's state of mind, but trusted Winters. If Winters said she was good, then Lip believed him. He felt bad that her parents died and hoped nothing else happened to her. He also hoped none of the boys would get distracted by her presence.

123

Doc was taking her on a little tour of the foxhole labyrinth the men had created, telling her who usually resided in each. He even took her out to where a few guys, including Harry Welsh, were watching the line. Then he took her to the tent that serves as the aid station/ unofficial headquarters. Nixon, Winters and Speirs were within.

"You're still alive, I see," Nixon greeted. "The boys behave?"

"Yes, they were very polite and welcoming sir," Christine replied. Nixon nodded his head, pleased that she seemed to be adjusting to her new life.

"And no need to call me sir. Nix will do just fine," Nix added.

"Yes, si- Yes, Nix."

Winters looked up from the papers he was reading, "If there is anything you need, come talk to us and we'll see what we can do for our new nurse. Be careful out there, though I think you will be fine."

Speirs stayed silent, but watched Christine the whole time. He was not sexually attracted to her, but intrigued by her inner strength. He didn't think many men could come away from what she has gone through, asking for more, like she was doing. He was silently impressed.

"Have a good day then, Lieutenant Winters, Lieutenant Speirs, Nix." She nodded to each in turn.

Winters replied with "You too and take care. Don't let the men harass you for too long. Welcome to Bastogne."

Speirs nodded, "Be careful."

"See you later, sweetheart Have fun freezing," Nix added with a cheery wave.

Doc and Christine left the tent. Doc led her over to where he and Spina shared a foxhole. "This is it. The end of the tour," he said with a small smile, jumping into the foxhole.

She laughed and followed him into the foxhole.

"Hey Doc," Spina greeted before looking up. He was startled at the person who entered his foxhole with Doc. "Oh, hello."

Doc chuckled, "Spina, this is Christine, our new field nurse. Christine, this is Spina, our other medic."

Christine shook his hand and politely asked, "How do you do?"

"Cold. Tired. Other than that, just peachy," Spina replied. "Ugh. I'd love to stay and chat but I'm going to take a walk before my feet fall off." With that, Spina hopped out of the hole and walked off.

Christine had noticed how Doc had tensed when Spina had called him such. She knew that some of the medics who came into the hospital hated being referred to that way. "Your name's Eugene isn't it?" she asked him.

"Yea. It is." He looked at her, wondering why she was asking.

"Do you mind if I call you Gene then?" This man was nice and she would do whatever she could to make him a little more comfortable. It was her job, after all, to comfort soldiers. No, not like a cheap lay, but like a mother or someone who cares. Back in the hospital, such comfort usually was given just by holding on to a soldier's hand and sitting by him until he let go of the pain and left this world.

"Nope, I don't mind," he said. She knew she had been right, thinking he didn't want to be called Doc when she saw his grateful smile. He wanted to be acknowledged as a regular person, not someone expected to save lives with miracles.

"Well then Gene, do we just wait here?"

"Pretty much. You can walk around, but don't go too far off. If there's a call for a medic, you can just jump out and go help. Dinner here is around 5, so we'll go out then, but I suggest getting sleep whenever possible." With that, Gene fell silent and closed his eyes. Christine wasn't sure if he was asleep or not, but hoped he was. He had bags under his eyes and could use the rest.

With a sigh, Christine curled under the blanket with Gene and got lost in her thoughts.


	7. Just Take off the tine

Christine had drifted off to sleep. She had curled up next to Gene, trying to share what little warmth there was to be found out in the woods. Images of the many soldiers she had seen since coming to Europe filled her mind. Faces twisted in pain, desperate screams filling the air and the stench of blood that had soaked into the very walls haunted Christine's dreams, causing her to squirm a little in her light sleep.

BOOM! CRASH! Christine was jerked out of her nightmares from the sound of mortars coming in. Gene was alert in a second and covered Christine with his body. It sounded like only two shells had come in.

There was a pause before the call came. "MEDIC! We need a medic!"

Gene shot out of the hole and Christine quickly followed. They rushed towards the yells. When they got there, they saw Lip next to a man on the ground. He had blood pooling out the side of his body. Some debris had cut through his side. Gene gave him a shot of morphine while Christine began probing around inside of his wound. She took out all the debris she could find and felt around to make sure no blood vessels were torn.

Gene tried to keep the man, a replacement, calm with his soothing voice. "Shh. We've got you. Stop moving. It's a little graze. We'll fix ya up in no time." Once Christine was satisfied that there were no tears, she withdrew her hand. Gene immediately placed some gauze over the wound to staunch the blood flow. Christine reached into the medic bag that Gene had found her and pulled out a needle and some thread. She pushed aside Gene's hands to sew the wound closed. It was a messy process and blood was everywhere. The red liquid stained the snow, the man's side, and Christine's and Gene's sleeves and hands. It wasn't until she was finished that Gene had stopped talking long enough to realize that she too, had been trying to reassure the soldier.

"Doc, the jeep's here," said Lip. Doc had been taking a second to calm his racing heart and looked up, startled, when Lip spoke.

"Ok. Let's pick 'im up and get him into town." Gene grabbed the soldier under the armpits while Lip got his legs. The replacement yelped in agony as they picked him up and whimpered as they transferred him onto the jeep. Doc hopped up next to the injured man and the jeep took off to deposit the man at the aid station.

Lip watched the jeep until it disappeared into the fog. He then turned and walked to Christine, who was still sitting in the snow. Lip was impressed at how she handled the situation. She remained collected and worked quickly. Heck, she was even able to stitch him up out here, hopefully minimizing his blood loss. Lip was starting to warm up to the idea of a field nurse.

Christine's heart was racing and she was trying to calm herself. This always happened. An emergency occurred and she worked quickly and efficiently to get through the crisis. However, it wasn't until after the patient was stable or dead that she noticed her racing heart that was working overtime from the adrenaline rush.

Lip reached Christine and looked down at the girl surrounded by bloody snow. "Christine? Are you alright?" the concerned sergeant asked.

Christine looked up at him and managed a wobbly smile. "I'm fine. Thank you, sir. I just need a minute to calm down."

Lip smiled and nodded. "I understand. And please, call me Lip. Everyone else does and it would feel strange if you started calling me anything else. In fact, you might as well address everyone by their names, not their rank."

"Ok, Lip. So, how often do we get little surprises like this?" The hospital always had wounded coming in, but that was from a large portion of the front. She had no idea how often they came from one specific region. Also, actually being around when the shells came in had scared her more than a little.

Lip looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "Well, I'd have to say we get a few 'gifts' a day from the Krauts. Why? Ready for more excitement?" He smiled down at her.

Christine finally noticed that she was still kneeling, so she stood up. "I'd rather not get anymore 'presents', though the Germans never asked for my opinion." This brought a laugh from Lip. He was happy to have someone else around who seemed to be able to present a cheery front to help keep the men's morale up. "I was merely curious. Well, I'd better go check on the rest of the men."

"That's fine, but don't go any closer to the line. We are spread so thin that the Krauts are liable to slip between us and we don't want our new nurse getting injured. Be careful."

"Of course, sir." Christine was touched at his obvious concern for her well-being. He barely even knew her and was looking out for her. 'This is what Skip meant when he said that Lip was like the mother of the company,' thought Christine as she walked away.

Christine wandered throughout the woods, looking for her men. She'd stop at every foxhole she saw and checked in with the men. When she reached Bill and Toye, Bill asked her who got hit.

"I'm not sure, but I think it was a replacement. Skip didn't give him an introduction."

Bill laughed at this and Toye smirked, "Yea. We got a lot of replacements. They come in one day and are gone the next. They don't know anything." Bill nodded his agreement.

Bill and Joe went back and forth, complaining about replacements. Christine did not know what to say, so she just kept her mouth shut. She listened as the complaining progressed from replacements to life in general.

Bill's main focus was the cold. "It's too fucking cold. Can't even feel my damned feet."

Christine, being the nurse, had to jump in, "You need to get up and walk around every couple of hours that you are awake. It will help. Trust me. Also, try to keep your hands warm."

"And how do you suppose we do that, eh, Christine?" Joe asked. He scowled over at her for suggesting something so ridiculous. Bill waited, curious for her idea.

"Shove them under your armpits. It will help." Christine knew from experience that this helped. Noting the lack of information these two had about surviving, Christine made a mental note to tell all the men she saw about these tricks to saving extremities.

"Hey. Christine. Your name's too long," Bill suddenly said.

Christine looked amused. "Too long?"

"Yeah. Too long. You need a nickname. I'm gonna rename you. Just let me think of somethin'." Bill thought a minute. "Got it. Chris. Just take of the -tine and you get Chris. It's perfect. Short, simple, and just overall fantastic."

Christine grinned at this. It made her feel like she was at home. Everyone back home used to call her Chris, but when she got here, she was always 'Nurse' or 'Doctor' or 'Miss'. It was nice. Nicknames meant acceptance and she was happy to be accepted by the guys.

"Ok Bill. But I've still got others to check on. Now don't forget what I told you boys." With that, Christine scrambled out of the foxhole and walked away.

"Yes, Chris. Be careful," called out Bill and Joe after her. More people concerned for her safety. Chris stayed in the general vicinity. She didn't want to get lost wandering around the woods. After about an hour of visiting, she bumped into Gene. Literally. They had both been watching the ground and walked straight into each other. He reached out to steady her as she stumbled backwards.

"Oh, Gene. I'm sorry. I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going." She felt very bad for running into the poor man.

"It's ok. I didn't see you either," he assured her. She loved listening to him speak. Chris had always been fascinated with accents and could listen to almost anyone with an accent talk for hours. "They're making dinner. You should go eat." He didn't want her to get any skinnier out here, she needed to keep food in her for warmth and energy.

"Ok. I suppose I am kind of hungry. How's the man who got hit?" she asked as they headed towards food.

"He should make it. You did good, stitchin' him up like that."

"Oh, well I was just trying to keep him from dying from blood loss. I knew how to stitch and knew it would help, so I just did it. I went on autopilot." She was a little embarrassed and tried to modestly shake off the compliment.

"Well, here's the food."

"Wait. Aren't you going to eat? Gene?" her voice trailed off as she realized that he had already walked away. She got her food and walked back over to where she ate earlier. She found Gene sitting on a log, observing the rest of the men. Chris sat down next to him and began eating.

"Aren't you going to eat? You need to."

He looked over to her. "I guess I'm just not that hungry," he said softly.

She scowled and proceeded to scold him. "Gene! You're a medic. You know how important it is to eat. Now go over there and get some food."

"Yes ma'am." Gene got up with a small smile and proceeded to get some food. He came back with a small portion and showed it to Chris. It wasn't as much as she thought he should have, but it would do. She hummed her approval and he sat down to eat. He finished quickly and got up.

"I'm going for a walk. I'll see you back in the foxhole. Have one of the boys escort you back if you have a little trouble remembering where it is." For the second time that meal, Gene disappeared into the fog. Christine sighed. He seemed to need time alone, something she understood, so she just let him go. She watched the men for a little while before she heard a voice call her name.

"Hey, Chris," yelled Bill. "Why don't you come and sit with us. We want your company and pretty face."

"Chris?" Someone asked him. The voice came from a gathering of people so Chris couldn't tell who had asked.

"Yeah. That's her nickname. Christine is too long to keep saying, so we're callin' her Chris," replied Toye. Bill and Toye were gloating, showing off the fact that they were the first to give their new nurse a nickname.

Christine walked over to the group and took a seat next to Liebgott again, who had nearly pushed Popeye off the trunk to make room for Chris. "My face isn't that pretty," she said, "even when it's not covered in bruises."

"Aw, I don't believe that. I bet you were a beautiful lady, all the guys drooling over you," Bill argued.

Christine was blushing fiercely and had already started scooting closer to Joe, as if he would shield her from the embarrassment. "They didn't drool over me. That's gross. Why would I let them drool on me?"

"Drool? Saliva? What's that? The spit is frozen in my mouth," Luz complained. This got them started on freezing their butts off out here. It seemed to be one of the most popular topics of conversation out here. Freezing, women, and funny little anecdotes were what the men talked about. They left out home because it was too painful to be remember.

Christine let out a relieved sigh after successfully changing the topic. They had gotten distracted and the attention was off of her. She sat there, content to listen to the boys chat away. Occasionally, she would join in and share a story or two.

Finally, after another hour of talk, the boys slowly started drifting away. It got dark early out here, with all of the fog. Liebgott had sat through the conversation silently for once. He hadn't been a big talker since coming out in the snow, but he usually had plenty of little comments to punctuate the conversations with. He was happy to sit there with Chris warming his side. He was tempted to put his arm around her shoulders, but was unsure of how she would react, considering her recent interactions with Layman. So he sat there, hugging himself and listening to the others talk. When everyone started leaving, Joe decided it was time to leave.

"You should probably head back to your foxhole," Joe told Chris, a little reluctant for her to leave his side.

She had been watching Harry Welsh and Alley leave to go get some sleep. She looked up at Joe. "Ok," was all she said.

"Do you need some help finding your foxhole?" he asked.

"No, I think I know where I am going. And if I get lost I will stumble upon someone who can point me in the right direction. Thank you though. You should probably be heading out to sleep, too," she added after witnessing him try to hide a yawn. She got up and started walking towards the foxhole she had been sharing with Gene and Spina.

Joe got up and jogged after her. He slowed to a walk when he caught up to her. "I thought you might like some company," he said when he caught the questioning look she sent him.

"I suppose some company would be nice," she agreed. They walked in a comfortable silence. Christine was proud that she remembered the way back to the foxhole. "Thank you for escorting me. Be careful walking back."

Joe gave a wave of acknowledgement as he walked off. Christine jumped into the foxhole before he had disappeared from sight. She found Gene and Spina shivering under a blanket.

Spina cracked an eye to see who had joined them "Oh, Chris, you made it back," Spina said sleepily. He was in the midst of falling asleep, but hadn't quite made it that far yet.

"Yes. I found my way back. You just get some sleep now."

Spina gave a hum of approval and closed his eyes again. Doc, though, looked wide awake. "I just came back from doing a round. Everyone still has all of their limbs and said they were fine."

Chris cocked an eyebrow. "They said that they were fine? Just dandy? Peachy? Never been better?"

Gene chuckled, "Now I didn't say they said all o' that. I meant that they were fine, apart from freezing. Now come get under this blanket and warm up a bit."

Christine gratefully obeyed the order she was given. She curled up next to Gene, who wrapped an arm around her. They soon fell asleep, cuddled together.

Chris woke a few hours later, breathing hard. Those faces haunted her every time she closed her eyes. After the many months of recalling the faces of all the wounded men she saw, Chris had finally started getting immune to its affects and was able to sleep for a few hours at a time. However, she never got a full nights sleep and always woke, gasping for air. Gene's arm was still around her and he was still asleep. Spina was softly snoring on Gene's other side. She tried her best to slip away without waking them, but failed when she saw Gene's eyes flutter open sleepily.

"Everything alright?" he questioned softly.

"Yes," she replied, feeling guilty for waking him. "I'm just going out to make another round."

He got up, but not before wrapping Spina up in the blanket. "Here, I'll go with ya," he offered, pulling himself out of the foxhole.

"Oh no. Please, go back to sleep. I'll be fine, Gene," Chris protested.

"It's ok. I'm up now. I don't sleep long anyways," he assured her in his lovely voice. Chris smiled and they walked off.

Most of the men were asleep, so the two medics left the sleepers alone. When they found someone awake, the medics would stop and keep them company for a bit. Chris made sure to give everyone she talked to the same advice that she had given Bill and Toye earlier: walk around every few hours and keep your fingers warm.

"Seriously? You can keep your fingers warm by shoving them in your armpits?" Harry asked.

"Yep. It actually works fairly well. My fingers stay cold if I just shove them in my pockets, so that's what I do. Try it. It works," Chris encouraged him.

Harry shoved his hands under his arms and clamped his arms to the sides of his body. "No shit! You were right. I'm starting to get feeling back in my fingers," Harry exclaimed after a minute. Chris just smiled while Gene couldn't stop chuckling; this happened every time Christine taught someone how to keep their hands warm.

"What are you laughing at Doc? My fingers are finally warming a little. Why didn't you ever tell me this?" Harry glared accusingly at Doc.

Gene shook his head, "But I did, Harry. I must've told you boys a thousand times. You never listened. Must be because a girl told you. Careful, Harry. Kitty might get jealous."

"Ah, Kitty will be fine. I love her and only her." Seeing Christine's confused face, Harry explained, "Kitty's my girl back home. We're going to get married after the war's over."

"Congratulations, Harry." Harry talked about Kitty while Christine would politely ask him questions. Doc just sat there, grateful to enjoy some peace. After a while, they left Harry and headed back to the foxhole to try and get some more sleep.

For the second time, Christine woke to the sounds of shells coming in. She could hear Lip and Buck instructing everyone to stay in their foxholes. She also felt Gene on top of her, protecting her again.

"Are you ok?" Gene asked, when the bombing stopped.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Christine shakily replied. They got out of the foxholes, waiting for that dreaded call. It finally came and they headed off towards the screams. However, when they got there, Spina was just finishing bandaging the guy up. It was a flesh wound, a piece of shrapnel to the calf. Luz was on the radio, calling for a jeep. The jeep came. Spina and the injured man, whom Luz said was another replacement, were on the jeep and heading into town.

"Well, I suppose it's time for breakfast. Let's go eat," Luz said.

"Oh, so if you sleep through the alarm, our lovely German neighbors tell you it's time to get up?" Christine teasingly asked.

"Yea. Those Kraut bastards are ever so kind. 'Oh, George, breakfast is ready. What? Five more minutes? I don't thinks so.' BAM! 'Awake now, dear boy?' Yep, those lovely shitheads like to keep us on our toes," George said, making faces when he imitated the Germans.

"Really, George. You should be more grateful. They're just looking out for your well-being," Christine told him in all seriousness.

"I suppose I should thank them then. 'Here you go, you bastards. I made you an explosive strudel, as thanks for waking me up for breakfast this morning via shelling. No, no take it, I insist.' Would that please you, Mother?"

"Greatly. I knew I raised you right." Chris and George had managed to keep straight faces, but as soon as they looked at each other, they lost it. They were still laughing as they stepped into the clearing and got in line for food. It was after she got her food that Christine realized Gene had slipped away again. She found him, once again, foodless and sitting on the trunk. They had a similar argument to the one they had yesterday with the same result: Gene getting up and getting some food. Gene and Christine stayed there, talking quietly after they ate. Gene got up to go check the men watching the line and Chris headed over to the rest of the boys. She headed over to 'her' spot next to Liebgott to talk with everyone.

After leaving the clearing, Christine headed over the tent where she knew Winters and Nix would be working. She saw Winters about to enter the tent. He called out as he saw her approaching. "Chris. How are you?"

"Cold, sir." He chuckled when she said this.

"Well, I do not think you are alone in that aspect. Come inside," he ordered. Upon entering the tent, Christine saw Nix and Speirs sitting in chairs, hunched over a map on the table.

Both of them glanced up when they heard the flap open.

"Ah. Christine. How nice to see you. What brings you to our humble abode?" Nix was smiling and made a dramatic sweep of his arms, gesturing to their 'humble abode'.

"I just wanted to make sure everyone was alright. I have been reminding the men to walk around every few hours and to keep their fingers warm."

"And just how our we supposed to keep our fingers warm, sweetheart?" Nixon was eyeing Christine with a critical gaze, not sure if she was being sarcastic or serious. Speirs was watching the exchange with interest. He really hoped she had a magic trick to keep fingers warm.

"Geez. Even the officers don't listen to the medics." Christine shook her head. She thought that these men had some sense and knew to listen to medics.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nix asked, pretending to be offended.

"Gene says he told you boys a million times, if you want warm fingers, stick them under your arms. A little heat is trapped between your arms and your bodies and it will warm your fingers a bit." Speirs looked interested and discreetly did what she suggested. A small, almost indiscernible smile formed on his face when he found that she was right.

"What? Doc never said this!" Nix protested after he, too, found that she was right.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what the other men said, too," Chris said in between laughs. Winters was also laughing and Speirs chuckled.

Speirs sighed, "I think she might be right. I tended to start to tune out my medics. Thank you for telling us this. I was beginning to think I didn't have fingers."

"Your are very welcome. I'm just doing my job, sir." Christine turned towards Winters. "Lieutenant, do you all eat the same thing everyday?"

"First, call me Dick or Winters. There's no need for you to be formal. But to answer your question, yes, we eat the same thing everyday. All we have is slop. Why?" Winters was curious as to what she was getting at.

"Well, I was wondering why you don't have the men scrounge for some vegetables. I mean, that's what we did back in the hospital. There wasn't an abundance, but it was something nice that could be added to the slop."

"That's brilliant, Chris." Winters couldn't believe that no one else had thought of that. Anything other than the barely edible stuff they ate now sounded great.

"If you are fine with it, I could go look for some now," she offered. Winters started nodding and was about to give his approval before he was interrupted.

"No. Not by yourself. You shouldn't just wander off, especially unarmed," Speirs suddenly said as he joined the conversation.

123

Speirs was curious as to why the nurse was coming into the tent, so he stopped what he was doing and gave her his full attention. He was surprised by the suggestion she gave to keep his hands warm, but her reasoning seemed sound. He tried it and was pleased with the results. Speirs thought it was humorous how Nixon kept arguing with her. It dawned on him that she was probably right: no one really listened to everything the medics told them. He knew he didn't. They just kept trying to send men off the line for little things, even though the men wanted to stay. They also spouted other unimportant nonsense. Yet, when Chris said it, it seemed pretty foolish to block out something that would make one a lot more comfortable.

Shockingly, it wasn't too hard to admit to not listening to the medic, thus admitting to messing up. It wasn't like she was judging them, well she was a little, but she didn't seem to change her opinion of them. He went back to listening to the conversation, silently. He was a little impressed that she could find food out in the blistering snow, but somehow, it did not surprise him that she would manage such a difficult feat. He supported her argument since he was all for getting some real food. However, he objected to her wandering about on her own. It wasn't safe.

He saw Winters about to approve of her ridiculous plan and voiced his objections, "No. Not by yourself. You shouldn't just wander off, especially unarmed."

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"Well, do you want to go out there, scavenging in the snow?" Nix asked, amused that Speirs appeared to be concerned for Christine's safety.

"Fine. I will," Spears said, acting as if it was an order, not something he had suggested.

"Oh, thank you Lieutenant, but I can not accept your offer. You were working and I am sorry to have disturbed you," Christine quickly said. She had told Winters that she wouldn't cause any trouble and having to have a bodyguard most definitely was causing trouble.

"It's no problem," Speirs replied curtly. "Well, we're off." With that, Speirs marched out of the tent, expecting her to follow.

Christine called out to the two remaining officers as she followed Speirs, "Bye, Dick. Bye, Nix."

"Happy hunting!" Nix called after her. He returned back to his map and Dick had taken a chair on the other side of the table.

"That was interesting," commented Winters, looking at Nix over the map. Speirs wasn't exactly known for being the nicest guy around, so offering to be an escort for the new nurse so that she could pick vegetables was definitely a shocker. It must be because of Chris. She just gives off this vibe that makes you want to protect her and make her smile; apparently Speirs was affected, just like everyone else.

"No kidding," replied Nix. "But, hey, we're getting some more food. Who knows, maybe they can find me some extra Vat 69."

"Don't count on it Nix. Aren't you supposed to be working?" Nix sighed but went back to work, Winters helping him.


	8. Vegetables

Chris and Speirs were walking in silence. Chris had no idea what to say; it was easy to talk to the other men since they initiated the conversation, or at least gave her something to work with. This man though, almost seemed to prefer the uncomfortable silence, scanning the area with his unreadable face. She continued wandering around, looking for the tell-tale stem and leaves that would lead to a little extra food. He would dutifully walk behind her, keeping a look out for Krauts.

Speirs had no idea why he actually volunteered to go vegetable hunting. He loathed the idea of doing something so trivial. There was absolutely no logic behind his actions. He actually acted on impulse, something he had worked so hard to refrain from doing. Control, that is what he has worked so hard for. Control of his mind, his actions, his emotions. Being a soldier meant being in control. If he didn't have control, he couldn't work effectively as a soldier.

When he started reasoning out the logic behind his actions, he was able to convince himself that the impulse to volunteer for this ridiculous mission came from the knowledge that it would be bad to lose a talented nurse. That was it. He was doing what was best for the company, not just protecting Chris. It settled his mind to know that there truly was logic behind his actions, his mind was just a little slower than his body. He would have to work on that delay in communication. To be a better soldier, he needed to always think of what was best for the war, even if it was as ludicrous as protecting a nurse who wanted to go look for vegetables.

"Ha!" Chris exclaimed. "I think I found us something." She began digging around. Speirs kept scanning the area for any approaching Germans. He'd be damned if he actually started digging up vegetables.

Chris had actually found quite a catch. She had found some carrots and potatoes, enough that she couldn't carry them all herself. "Lieutenant, do you think that you can carry some of these please?" She had been a little hesitant to ask, with his eyes as cold as the surrounding snow.

He nodded and held out his hands to receive his load. She handed him most of the potatoes, which he stuffed in his jacket, leaving him free to carry his gun. Chris had already stuffed her jacket full of veggies and was still carrying more. This should last them for a few days, easy.

"Are you ready to go back, nurse?" Speirs asked, after he adjusted his bundle.

Chris looked up, surprised to hear him speak. "Yes, sir, I am. I think we have enough. Don't you?"

Here he almost cracked a smile. "Yes, nurse. I think this will do."

She looked a little uncomfortable before saying, "Please, just call me Chris."

"Ok" was all he said before he started walking off. This time, however, Chris felt the need to get him to talk, even just a little bit. She was determined to get to know all of the men she would be around while out here.

Speirs was surprised when she suddenly asked him where he came from.

"I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. My family moved to Boston, Massachusetts when I was four, but I grew up in Portland, Maine."

Chris was impressed. "Wow. I've always lived in Des Moines. We rarely travelled, and if we did, it was just to a lake or the woods. The first time I actually went anywhere, it was to New York, right before I came to Europe."

They actually kept up a small conversation after that. Chris told him where she had worked while in Europe, with him occasionally asking questions. That was the model for the rest of the conversation: her doing most of the talking, him listening.

There was a lull in the conversation when they heard the voices. He held up his hand, signaling her to stop. They listened. The voices were speaking in English. They must have stumbled upon some men watching the line. Chris and Speirs crept closer. The men were talking about Speirs himself and all of the rumors surrounding him. It sounded like they were trying to scare the replacement with them.

Speirs slowly smiled. It was nice to know such rumors were in circulation.

Chris, who had never heard the rumors, was unsure what to think. When she saw her companion smile, she believed that there might be some truth to those rumors. The smile was almost feral in nature and scared Chris a bit, even though it wasn't directed at her.

"Are you going out there? To scare them, I mean?" Chris whispered. Speirs had actually been entertaining the idea of walking up to them and offering a cigarette. Speirs nodded and saw her smile.

Chris was always up for a good joke and she knew watching those Speirs sneak up on those boys while they were talking about him would be hilarious. She watched Speirs silently walk over to them and realized that the whole time she had been traveling with him, she had never heard him make any noise while moving. She enjoyed the looks on their faces when they heard him speak. They had not heard him approach and they looked like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar. The boys looked relieved when Speirs started to walk away. Their faces were priceless, though, when Speirs turned back around to offer them all a cigarette. Frank's response was to vigorously began brushing his teeth and Christenson shook his head. The replacement was shaking his head so hard that his helmet nearly came off.

Speirs walked back over to where he had left Chris. When he got closer, he saw that she was biting the arm of her jacket in an effort not to laugh. Her whole body was shaking.

Chris tried so hard not to let any sounds escape, in fear of alerting the men of her presence. Speirs came back, smirking. "Lieutenant, I must say, that was hilarious," Chris said when they were out of earshot of the poor, shell-shocked men.

His smirk only grew more pronounced. "A mixture of fear and respect is perfect for a commander to have when leading men in combat."

"Well, Lieutenant, I believe you have both."

"Call me Ron." Chris had no idea why he said that, but she would call him by his name nonetheless. Their journey back was filled with silence, though more comfortable than the trip out had held.

They walked over to where Joe Domingus was preparing the slop. They gave him the vegetables and told him to ration them out for a few days. Domingus gratefully accepted the food after he broke eye contact with Speirs, whose cold eyes had frozen Joe in place. After emptying his jacket of potatoes, Speirs headed back over to the tent to help Nix, as he was doing earlier. Chris headed out to check on the men. She had met up with Gene during the round and they had decided to go eat.

They had just sat down when Gene looked at his food. "Wait a minute. Are these carrots? Where did we get some carrots?"

"I found them," Chris answered proudly. "I found those and some potatoes, so we will have a little extra food for a while."

Gene looked at her with awe. Chris laughed at his expression. Listening to the other conversations, she could hear their cries of delight when they found the addition to the meal. It wasn't until Joe Domingus told everyone that she had brought the vegetables did they stop arguing over where they might have come from.

The air was filled with "Thank you Chris" and "You're the best".

Chris blushed as she called back, "You're welcome, guys. But don't expect it too often, now. I just had a craving for some carrots and potatoes." She walked over to her seat next to Liebgott, who scooted over so she had plenty of room.

"Where did you get these, Chris?" Buck asked. 'How the hell did she manage to find anything growing out here?' he thought. He didn't really care since it was something else to eat besides the stew-like stuff Joe shoved at them everyday.

"Well, now, Buck, I very politely asked the Vegetable God for some real food, instead of this slop you all were feeding me and he answered my call. He rained down potatoes and carrots, which I picked up and gave to Joe to put into our food. I profusely thanked the Vegetable God, as should all of you, for this bountiful harvest," Chris concluded. She had a very serious look on her face, like she actually believed the story she just told Buck. In truth, she wanted to see how the boys would react to a bit of teasing. It would hopefully brighten their moods a bit.

George and Skip responded immediately and got on their knees, praying towards the clouded heavens, "O Vegetable God. Thank you for this lovely food. Please, O Great One, grant us more of your wealth. We are your humble slaves." With the last statement they started bowing down.

Laughter broke out amongst the audience. Skip and George turned to the audience, faces twisted in mock fury and annoyance. "How dare you mock the Vegetable God. He should make turnips grow out your ears." This just caused more laughter. Bill and Joe Toye were on the ground, rolling with laughter. Buck and Lip were bent over double. Popeye fell over backwards from laughing so hard. Chris was leaning on Joe, who was holding Chris up while trying to keep himself upright at the same time.

When Buck was finally able to breathe again, though his crystal blue eyes continued to water, he turned towards Chris. "Chris, seriously, where'd you get the food?"

Chris took a minute to stop laughing, though she was still leaning against Joe. "I'm sorry, Buck. That's for me to know and you to never find out."

From then on, twice a week, Chris would go out and gather vegetables with Speirs as her escort. Speirs didn't mind going too much, because he liked talking with Chris and wasn't opposed to some extra food, but he refused to actually pick the vegetables. In fact, he refused to let anyone else see him helping her. God forbid anyone figures out Ron Speirs is human and has a soft spot for the nurse and that he goes out of his way to help her.


	9. The Color of Her Hair

The next day, Chris had two more faces added to the pool of other faces that haunted her tired mind. The soldiers had died while she, Gene and Spina worked on them. From a medical stand point, there was nothing that the medics could have done, but that didn't prevent them from feeling the guilt of effectively killing two young men, boys really. Gene walked off and Chris didn't even try to follow. Instead, she went off on her rounds to check on the living.

She had her emotions under control before she reached the first foxhole, so no one was able to see how deeply the deaths cut into her heart. Yes, she grew up as a doctor. Yes, she knew death happened, and was even expected. She had accepted all this long ago. But what she had trouble accepting was being "Death's Angel" so often during war. No one had talked about how painful and arbitrary death was on the line. No one had spoken of the cruelty of death, stealing boys before they even had a chance to fully live in this world. No one had said any of this until they experienced the bloody anguish called war, first hand. And even after this was realized, it never stopped affecting you. The pain would hold you for eternity. You can't just forget the look on a dying man's face, his pain-filled screams, that shiny, red liquid, staining the ground. It follows you, never letting you rest, continually forcing you to remember the loss and regret.

That was why Chris let Gene walk off. It was also why she refused to let anyone know how deeply this affected her. It would be cruel to add to that burden they already carry; they already have their own pain. She would do whatever she could to lighten their burdens.

The next time she saw Gene, he was sitting in his usual spot, holding a tray of food.

"You know, food fulfills its purpose better if you eat it," she joked. He only looked up at her, his eyes blank. She tried not to let his pain tear her apart. She wished she could make the hurt go away. "You're on the right track, the next step is to put it in your mouth."

Now he looked down at his food, finally seeming to realize that he was holding something and that he could eat it. He slowly started eating.

"There you go," Chris encouraged him, beginning to eat her own food. They ate their meal in silence. Most of the time, Chris would have something to say every now and then, but nothing would help him now, so she ate in silence and offered her strength to him through her presence alone. When Gene got up to leave, she squeezed his arm reassuringly to remind him that he was not alone. He offered her a small smile before wandering off. She let out a silent sigh before putting on a happier face to join the boys with.

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Later that day, Chris was sitting with George, listening to him tell stories of his childhood. Chris tried to spend as much time with the men as possible, to let them know that someone really did care about them. Sometimes, the best thing one could do for a man on the line was to give him a listening ear and warm smile. It had worked in the hospitals and it seemed to work here. George was just finishing a story about a prank that he had pulled on one of his teachers when Gene popped in with them. There wasn't even a pause in the conversation. It was a normal occurrence to have random people slip into your foxhole.

When George finished his story, the Cajun spoke up, "I think I can take that bandage off of yo' head now, Chris."

"That would be great," Chris said. She gave him a grateful smile after he took it off. "Thank you, it was beginning to itch."

Gene inspected her wound, which had nearly finished healing. The bandage was to keep it clean instead of stopping blood loss and it had done its job. There was barely a mark from where Layman had knocked her out with his gun. He stopped probing the wound, letting her hair fall around her face. "It healed up perfectly. No need to worry about it now."

"Why thank you, Doctor. Are you sure stitches are not required? Any other instructions?" Chris teased as she tried, unsuccessfully, to push her hair back.

Gene had to smile. "No. I know the recovery process was hard, and you rarely behaved, but I think you are all set to go." George chuckled at the exchange and the other two joined him.

Chris started crawling out of the foxhole. "Well George, that was a wonderful story, but I now must take my leave. I need to go check on the other men."

George started pouting, "Aw, no you don't. Just stay here with me darlin'. They'll be fine."

Chris shook her head, letting her hair fly around and concealing a wide smile, "Now George, that just wouldn't be fair. Besides, you have Gene for company. He's a much better listener than me." She took off, still trying to control her hair.

George looked over to Gene only to see the medic walking away. "Wait, Doc! Where are you going?"

Gene paused and looked over his shoulder at George, "I'm off to check on everyone else. You know, my job? You'll be fine."

"No! Don't leave me all alooooone. You stupid, good for nothing medics!" George cried dramatically. He wondered how Chris was going to keep her hair out of her face. It seemed to be giving her quite a bit of trouble and she just couldn't quite seem to control it. 'Oh, well. It's not my problem,' George mused before reminiscing about summers in Rhode Island.

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Chris had continued checking on the other men, all of whom suffered from the cold and from exhaustion, but were otherwise ok. It wasn't until she reached Nixon and Winters that she stopped long enough for someone to comment on her changed appearance.

"Your bandage is gone," Nix said, looking dumb.

Chris and Winters shared a short laugh. "Yes, it is. Thank you, Captain Obvious," she replied. She self-consciously tried to comb through her hair.

They sat together in silence after that. Chris was wishing for the war to be over while simultaneously trying to avoid thinking about what would happen to her as soon as it ended. She now had no place to go and really had no idea how to survive in the world. Winters was lost in his own little world and Nixon was watching Chris. He watched her silent struggle with her hair, which seemed to keep falling in her face. It was matted and dirty, obviously, and would get in the way of her work. Nix wondered how he could maybe fix that.

Some soap and a comb! He could scrounge up some soap so that she could wash her hair and a comb to get out all of the tangles. Also, a hairband to keep it out of her face. 'Perfect,' Nix thought.

Winters and Chris felt their companion move to leave the foxhole and sent him questioning gazes.

"I'm off for a walk. Don't worry about me," was the only explanation Nix offered before walking away. Winters was a little concerned about his friend's behavior and wondered where he could be off to. But then again, Nix always was a little odd.

Nixon was beginning to get frustrated. The soap had surprisingly been easy to procure: most of the men still had some laying about in their packs. It was finding a comb that was difficult. 'I suppose it's not like men really need to worry about their hair while on the line' Nix silently mused, 'but honestly, does nobody have a comb?'

After asking nearly the whole damn company, Nixon found a comb.

"A comb? Yea, I got one. But what do you need it for, Captain? Looking pretty for when the Krauts shell us next?" Perconte asked while fishing the comb out of his personal drug store.

"Sure, something like that," Nix replied, relieved. "Thank you." Perco just nodded and went back to complaining about the cold with Skinny. Both men wondered what in the world Nixon would want a comb for.

After breakfast the next day, when the boys and Chris were sitting and talking, Nixon sat listening to the conversations floating about, waiting for the right time to present his gifts.

"How does your head feel?" Liebgott asked Chris, softly.

She looked up at him, "Just fine. Why?"

Joe looked away, before replying. "Well, your bandage is gone and all . . . and, well . . . Aw nevermind," he lamely finished, embarrassed. He had been relieved to see Chris without that bandage on her head. He would never admit it, but he was worried about the girl. Maybe it was because he knew her secret or because he really liked having her sit beside him, but he thought about her a lot.

"Everyone has been saying that. 'Chris, your bandage is gone' and 'Oh, look, your bandage got taken off'," she complained before loudly announcing to everyone, "Yes, people. My bandage is gone," she lowered her voice again and stared straight forward before addressing Joe again. "Why does everyone keep telling me that? I already know."

"Because, we can now see your hair. We were all betting on the color of your hair. Most of it was either hidden under the bandage or in your coat," Skip answered, before Joe even had a chance to reply.

"You were betting on the color of my hair?" she asked slowly, disbelief written across her face.

"Yep." It was Penkala who answered this time. "Only problem is, we still can't figure out what color it is, with all the dirt and stuff. It's a let down really. We still don't know who won."

"You could have just asked me." Chris was beginning to shrink into Joe's side, trying to avoid the attention. "Anyways, my hair is light brown."

"I don't believe that. A beautiful girl like you? You probably have long, chocolate brown waves." Bill argued. He and Joe Toye had discussed this at length, when Chris hadn't been around. It was actually Bill who had brought the whole thing up when he was talking to Luz about their new nurse and how little they actually knew about her. Soon, everyone had their own idea as to what color Chris's hair was when clean.

"No she doesn't," Babe snapped. "She probably has curly, fiery red hair. Like the burnt orange in the sky when the sun sets."

"You only say that cuz your a red-head, Babe," Bill said. Even though they were both from Philadelphia, they didn't necessarily agree all of the time, much to the surprise of everyone else.

"You're both wrong. She has lovely honey blond hair, silky smooth," Buck chimed in.

Chris's face was getting hotter and hotter as more men joined in the argument. She was about ready to bury her face into Joe's side when he turned traitor and put in his opinion. She sighed and straightened up, away from Joe, before saying, "Really, guys. It's nothing special. Just plain, old, light brown." They all ignored her. Nixon let them fight for a few more minutes before getting up. He was privy to the bet and he had the opinion that she was a brunette, no curls.

"Gentlemen. I think there is only one way to find out. Why don't we let her wash her hair and then we'll find out for ourselves," he said, holding up a bar of Army soap, good for the body and hair. "Here you go, sweetheart. Go get your hair clean so we can settle this debate."

"Thank you," she said quietly, grabbing the soap.

"Oh, and before I forget. I got you something else, to help keep your hair out of your face," he added before she walked off. She watched him reach into his pocket and pull out a comb and a hair tie. "Now you can have your hair in a braid and under control."

Her eyes grew wide and her face lit up. She had been having trouble keeping her hair out of her face since the bandage came off and was almost to the point of hacking her hair off. "Thank you very much, Nix." She offered him a warm smile while holding onto his much-appreciated presents. He returned her smile, happy to give her some comfort out here, the bet momentarily forgotten.

She gratefully took the gifts before a frown settled upon her face. Chris looked at the men around her. "Um, can any of you help me, please? I, uh, don't know how to . . . Well, I don't know how to braid," she said quietly a blush covering her cheeks.

"What?" George exclaimed. "A girl that can't do hair? How did you survive in life?" The others were also shocked. All of the girls they knew loved putting their hair up in fancy ways and never settled for plain hairstyles.

"I never needed to," she replied, very embarrassed. "Everyone always offered to do my hair for me, so I never really felt the need to learn. I mean, I can comb my hair, but I just can't do anything with it."

"I can help you," Shifty offered quietly in his slow, Southern drawl. He rushed on when the other men stared at him with slack jaws, "My ma always made me braid my sisters' hair, that's all." The men looked doubtful, but Shifty turned his attention back to Chris, "I don't know much, but I can do them French braids, which should keep the hair out of your eyes."

"I would love your help, Shifty, thank you." She waited for him to get up and they walked off a little ways, leaving the men to continue their debate over the color of Chris's hair.

Chris sat on a log, tilting her head back. Shifty had moved a stump behind the log and had a food tray filled with snow balanced on his lap. He washed her hair using the snow as water, while she told him how all the staff in the hospital back home fought over who got the right to play with Chris's hair for the day. She told him how, at one point, her parents had to write up a schedule of who got to do Chris's hair on which days. Shifty had nearly dropped the tray while laughing. After rinsing the soap out of her hair, he started to comb the tangles out. Chris enjoyed the feel of someone playing with her hair and Shifty appreciated her calm presence and the chance to do something that wasn't life-threatening.

It took him quite a while to untangle all of the knots. It had been almost two weeks since she had a chance to comb out her hair and there was plenty of it to get tangled. The blood from her head wound and dirt from sleeping in foxholes didn't help any.

"There. All clean," Shifty softly said. "No more knots or tangles, Chris. I can't quite make out the color of your hair, it's too wet for that, but I know it's not black and it is nice and straight. No waves or curls. We'll just have to let it dry to find out." Her hair, while wet, was various shades of brown and three-quarters of the way down her back. If he had to guess, Shifty would say that from root to tip, her hair was a little over two feet long. Shifty pocketed the comb before standing up. He walked around the log and held out his hand to Chris. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. He tugged her back towards the rest of the boys and gently let go of her hand as soon as she started walking next to him.

Everyone was staring at the pair, trying to decipher what color Chris's hair was, causing the pair to grow quite uncomfortable. They ended up darting back to their seats.

"I can't tell. Your hair's too wet," Bill complained as Chris walked by him to sit next to Liebgott.

"Holy shit," Joe exclaimed, seeing her hair was still dripping wet. "You can't go walking around with your hair so wet." He scrambled over to the nearest foxhole, stole a blanket, and tossed it onto her head. "Jesus! Don't you know anything?" He started towel-drying her hair while everyone else burst out laughing. Chris was grateful that the blanket covered her face so no one could see her blushing.

At first, Joe was stunned by how pretty she looked with her hair down, but then he grew annoyed when he saw how wet her hair was. That idiot was going to catch a cold!

Her blush had died down by the time Joe had deemed her hair dry enough to pull the blanket off her face. The debate was back on. Even though her hair wasn't completely dried, pieces of it were.

"See! Right there, blonde!"

"No, you idiot! Strawberry with waves!"

"Are you blind? That right there is a nice, rich chocolate brown!"

"I told you she didn't have black hair. How could someone with such a bright personality have dark hair?"

The exclamations were flying through the air. Many of the man would scream out their thoughts only to be contradicted by a fellow soldier. A few men knew better than to engage in such childish behavior, like Lip, or were too busy laughing to say anything at all, like Shifty and Nix. Chris could only laugh at her boys with a warm heart. She liked this feeling of being totally at ease, with no worries for the moment. It helped her forget the pain of all the deaths she had experienced.

Finally, her hair was completely dry. Many of the men had left, but some had stayed. The most opinionated gathered around Chris to decide once and for all what color her hair really was. Soon everyone was pulling at her hair.

"Ha," said Buck, picking up a small section while looking smug. "Honey blond. Just like I said."

"I hate to argue with a superior, Buck," Bill began, holding his own piece, "but this is most definitely deep, dark brown."

Babe shoved his section into Bill's face, "That's nice, Bill, but there are no curls. Anyway, this right here is orange. A red-head."

"You Philadelphian boys must be color-blind," Luz drawled. "She is aw-bviously a strawberry blonde."

"Whatever, you idiot. Incase you couldn't tell, she has light brown hair with natural blond highlights," Joe said over Chris's head, gently tugging her hair.

"Lieb, that ain't blond. Bill's right," Toye said, backing up his friend.

"I'm sorry boys, but I believe Luz is correct here. Obviously a strawberry blond," Skip said, joining in the conversation.

Chris could only giggle to herself, watching the boys argue over her hair. One of them would pick up a section, only to have another piece of her hair shoved into someone's face, highlighting another color. After a good bit of arguing, Lip came over and told the boys to back off. He couldn't decide on a color, but it seemed that every one of the boys had managed to find some evidence to back up their claims. It was nice to see them forget about the war they were in and to have a chance to act so childish. Sometimes Luz's comedian acts weren't enough anymore.

"Fellows, give the girl some room. Let go of her hair before you barbarians pull it out." After he got them to take their argument elsewhere, Lip turned to Chris. "You sure caused quite a commotion. In any case, it doesn't matter the exact color of your hair, but it sure isn't some plain, old, light brown. It is very unique and it's beautiful."

Chris returned the smile he gave her. Even if she didn't always enjoy being the certain of attention, she like the feeling of belonging. It was also nice that Lip said she, well her hair really, was special, even if it was plain. It's just that sometimes the light makes it seem to be a little different than the light brown she thinks it is.

"Would you still like me to braid your hair?" Chris hadn't heard Shifty approach, she had been too busy listening to the debate and her own thoughts.

She looked up at him, smiling, "Yes, please. Only if you don't mind, though."

"Don't worry," he reassured her, "It's no trouble. Wow, your hair is really soft." He combed out all the tangle the boys had put in her hair by throwing it about before he started to put it in a French braid.

Two figures were moving through the fog towards the clearing. It was Gene and another man. He looked familiar to Chris, but all she knew was that he hadn't been here before.

"Malarky! Nice to see you buddy," Skip said, walking over to clap the man on his uninjured shoulder.

"Nice to see you too, Skip. Went AWOL to get back here," Malarky said before he started greeting the others.

"Yeah. AWOL with his shoulder wound barely closing up," Gene muttered looking slightly annoyed.

Malarky was joking around with his friends before he spotted Chris. "Hey. Who's that over there?" he asked, pointing to Chris.

Buck followed Malarky's finger to Chris and Shifty. "I thought you had a shoulder wound. Did you get hit in the head? That's Shifty. You, know, our best shot, saved our asses many times." Amusement danced in Buck's bright blue eyes as he trailed off.

"No, Buck. I remember Shifty. I meant the girl," Malarky said, annoyed.

Bill answered him, "That's our new nurse, Chris." Bill looked over and saw that Shifty had finished braiding her hair. "Wow, sweetheart, you're pretty cute," he called to her.

She was looking 'pretty cute', bruises faded, bandages gone, hair clean. Even though she didn't think so, Chris was beautiful, with her fair skin, gorgeous hair, blue-green eyes, pink lips, and wonderful smile. The others called out similar statements.

"Oh, no, I'm not. You only say that because you haven't been around real ladies in a long time," she protested. Her face had warmed considerably since she was blushing. She wished Shifty would braid faster so she could slink off.

Malarky grinned at her, "I just got back from a hospital filled with nurses. You're beautiful. It's a fact. I'm Don Malarky, by the way."

"Christine Engel. Easy Company's field nurse. Nice to meet you. You said you went AWOL from the hospital? Well don't let your wound become infected. Just ask one of us to check it every day or you will end up back in the hospital with an infection, too weak to sneak away." It was her job, after all, to lecture the boys on proper medical care. She left the boys after that to go do her rounds.

123

Chris had been stuck in that foxhole, tied to the tree when it had snowed. She hadn't been too cold; Layman had brought plenty of blankets. Now, with only one blanket to curl under, her teeth chattered anytime it snowed. However she would never trade the warmth of all those blankets if it meant being his captive again. Besides, she had gotten used to curling up next to Gene to keep warm. Her teeth also didn't make as much noise if she huddled with someone else under the blanket.

A few days had passed, some men were injured, others died, and the fog hadn't left, so there were no supply drops. Chris still ate with Gene, sat next to Joe, and constantly went around checking on her boys. If too many strands escaped her braid, Shifty would gently comb out her hair and redo the braid. It was too cold to wash it again, but combing through it was enough.

One day, after the Krauts had taken out three replacements and injured 5 more, George noticed their nurse wasn't laughing with everyone else. In fact, she hadn't truly smiled all day.

"Hey, Chris. What gives? Are we not funny enough for you anymore? Laugh all ready!"

At Luz's outburst, most of the other conversations abruptly stopped, so everyone could hear Chris's reply.

"Sorry, George. You boys just aren't that funny," she deadpanned. She was a little angry at herself for not controlling her face better. She needed to be strong for these men. She could mourn the men's deaths later.

"Not funny?" Perco asked. For once, he wasn't brushing his teeth and he was a little surprised to see their normally smiling nurse looking almost sad.

Chris only shook her head. "Not funny at all."

"Well now, I think you're lying. And you're going to laugh," George told her seriously.

"No, I'm not and you can not make me George Luz."

George got a mischievous glint in his eye. "Oh, I won't make you, but you will laugh. Lieb, quick, tickle her!" he ordered. Every girl was ticklish, Luz knew, so by golly, if he couldn't be funny then she would be tickled!

Chris's eyes widened unbelievably and trace amounts of fear crossed her face. Lieb only grinned wickedly before attacking her sides.

"Ahhh, no, stop, no ha ha ha," Chris protested. She tried squirming away, but Joe refused to give up. Chris ended up falling on the ground and Joe jumped on her, still tickling her sides. She tried hitting him, but her efforts were in vain. Chris couldn't stop laughing and thought she might die of laughter. Everyone else was chuckling and smiling, happy to hear their nurse sound so joyful.

Everything was going fine until Joe decided he was tired of having Chris punch him. He grabbed her wrists with one hand to prevent her from hitting him anymore. Chris immediately froze.

"Get off," she ordered, staring straight into his eyes. Joe realized his mistake when he saw the pain in her face. It wasn't a physical pain, but the memory of the last time her wrists were restrained. He quickly got off.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, unable to meet her eyes. He looked up when he heard her walking away. By now everyone else had noticed something was wrong.

"Hey, Lieb. What didya do, grab her breast or something?" Bill asked.

"Shut up, Bill," Joe muttered before angrily stalking off to his foxhole. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid. God! How could you forget, like an idiot?' looped through Joe's mind. He was pissed at himself for upsetting Chris. He should have been more careful, but it was so fun hearing her laugh like that, he just stopped paying attention and forgot that she wasn't a normal girl. She had problems and he knew about them. He should have remembered. Continuously, he thought these things, even after he got to his foxhole. He hid under the blanket, wishing he could stop seeing that fear and pain on her face.

Chris had walked off to get some control over her thoughts. "It's not the same. Joe was only having some fun. He wasn't going to hurt me. I need to calm down." After a few minutes of walking, Chris had successfully calmed herself enough to go do her rounds. Whenever someone asked her why she had left so suddenly, she gave a rather fake laugh and claimed she couldn't breathe, before quickly changing the subject.

Everyone accepted her lies. Who were they to judge? Many of them kept with Bill's idea, thinking Lieb copped a feel and they were jealous he had the opportunity, but weren't willing to push their luck.

Buck, however, wouldn't let matters lie. He could tell something else was going on and wanted whatever problem there was solved. He had come to like this girl and wished she wouldn't lie to him. "He was pissed," Buck said quietly.

"Really?" Chris was shocked, then thought, 'Oh my, he must be mad at me. It must have been embarrassing to have me freak out like that. He must think I'm so pathetic, can't even control my thoughts and emotions.'

"Yeah, he stormed off. You should go see him," he urged her. Buck pushed her out of the foxhole and made a shooing motion with his hand. Buck didn't know Chris was thinking that Joe was mad at her, he thought she understood Joe was upset with himself. "Go on."

Chris walked over to the foxhole Joe shared with Alley. When she got closer, she saw Alley walking in circles a little ways away.

"Hey, Alley. How are you doing, besides freezing?" she asked as she got closer.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just hanging out here in the snow. Joe nearly bit off my head when I asked him if he was ok earlier. Been out here ever since," Alley said, still walking around. He knew that when Lieb got like this, the safest thing to do was leave him alone. Alley didn't want the fight he would get if he tried to stay.

Chris was worried. She hadn't meant to upset Joe and now Alley was suffering because of her slip up. "I'll go talk to him, Alley. If nothing else, you can hop in the foxhole with me and Spina tonight."

"Thanks, Chris. And good luck in there. He's in a mood alright."

Chris nodded before slipping into the foxhole. She snuck a glance at Joe, cocooned in the blanket. He hadn't looked at her, probably believing Alley had decided to come back in, and focused on his thoughts and trying to block the image of Chris's face when he scared her.

"I'm sorry, Joe. You must think that I'm pretty pathetic for freaking out like that. I didn't mean to, I know none of you boys would hurt me. I had been doing so well, but it just . . . I'm sorry," Chris rasped, staring at her boots.

Joe was shocked, first that Chris was even there after what he did, then at what she was saying. Wait, did she think that he was mad at her? "What are you talking about? I'm not mad at you. God, Chris. I'm the one who should be sorry. I totally forgot. I should have been more careful. And you're not pathetic. Don't ever think that what he did to you makes you pathetic." He slung his arm around her pulling her into his side and covering her with the blanket.

"Thanks Joe," she whispered, leaning into him.

Alley poked his head under the tarp cover. "You ok Chris? Lieb didn't bite your head off?"

Joe snarled at him, "No, jackass. I wouldn't yell at her."

Chris poked Joe in the side before smiling up at Alley. "Nope, I'm just fine Alley. Now come in here before you let all the heat out," she ordered.

"Ha," Alley let out a laugh. "What heat?" he asked as he got on the other side of Chris and under the blanket.

"The little bit of warmth that is in here coming off of our bodies," she replied. "Now come here and warm me up."

"Yes ma'am."

Author's Note: I just wanted to add that yes, it is possible for someone's hair to appear to be so many different colors. My hair is that way. Different lighting can make it appear anywhere from blond to brown to red, though it doesn't usually have quite that range of color at one time. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	10. Hospitals, 'Love', and Guilt

Christine had fallen into a nice routine. She'd wake up from her nightmares and do a round before breakfast, being careful not to wake those still asleep. Sometimes Gene would come with her; other times, she managed to sneak away without waking him. Spina slept through everything, so he never went on morning rounds with her. When it was time, she would go get breakfast and eat with Gene. They would take turns talking about their lives before the war, but when Chris sees Gene get that look on his face, the look telling her that he is desperate for the warm Louisiana air, they would sit in silence.

It was hard on everyone to be away from home. It was even worse when she dared think about the fact that she knew not everyone would get to return. Even though she had those thoughts, she would not let the men think negatively. Lip had once told her fear is like a disease, and would spread to infect everyone. She did her best to crush any fear that she found, before it could take ahold of her boys.

Once she finished eating, Christine would go sit next to Liebgott and shoot the breeze with the boys. After a bit, when everyone would start to disperse, Christine would start walking around, checking on everyone in their foxholes. Sometimes, she'd stop her round to hop into a foxhole and chat with some people for a bit before leaving to check on the others. She did this all day: rounds, eat, chat, rounds, fall asleep between Gene and Spina, wake up with nightmares, do it all over again. Of course, her day was interrupted with shell bursts. Then she would get thrown into a foxhole and under a body or two or three until the shelling would stop. As soon as the weight on top of her was gone she'd race out to follow the call of "MEDIC!" and do what she was kept out here to do: save people. She had only ridden into to the hospital once, then never again and that was because she almost never came back.

123

_"Come on, Skinny, the jeep's right there. Just hold on," Christine coaxed. Skinny had gotten his leg torn up from a shell and she and Perconte were carrying him to the jeep that would take him to the hospital. They had just dropped him and Frank had yelled at him for getting blood on his trousers._

_"Shit, Chris. It hurts," Skinny said with a grimace._

_"I know," she said as two men took Skinny from her and Perco to load him onto the back of the jeep. She hopped in back and started taking out the tree splinters that had lodged themselves in his leg. Her hands did not pause when the jeep took off. At one point he nearly passed out and Chris had to raise her voice._

_"Skinny! Open your eyes! Here, hold my hand and squeeze as hard as you can. It'll help." She quickly put a bandage on his leg and thrust her hand into his. "There. Maintenent tenez. Vous serez parfaits. Écoutez-moi (Translation: Now hang on. You will be fine. Listen to me)," she said over and over until they got to the hospital. She let go of his hand when the two medics picked him up and took him to the hospital. She followed them in and told the nurse that was looking him over what happened. The nurse wasn't even paying attention to the fact that Chris had just come in from the line, where females where not supposed to be. Just as Chris was walking out the door, a hand latched itself onto her arm and pulled her back into the hospital._

_"Where do you think you're going, Nurse? Trying to leave already? Had enough of this war? Well, dressing up like a soldier and walking out of here will put you farther into the war, sweetheart," said a man, obviously a doctor. Chris did not recognize him. He must think that she was a replacement nurse, so horrified by what comes into the hospitals that she was trying to run away. Sometimes the sights in hospitals were too much for people and they had to leave before going insane. Death clung to the walls and more often than not, a soldier brought to the hospital died or had some major wound that would disable him for life. The doctor continued, "You can't just run off. You signed up for this and we need all the help we can get. Now come back in here and start changing bandages."_

_He tried to drag her back in and she pulled against him. "I'm sorry but I am not a replacement nurse. I am a field nurse and I need to get back out on the line. I came with an injured soldier. Those two medics," she pointed to the two who were waiting in the jeep to take her back out to the line, "picked me and my soldier up from the line and now they will take me back. Let go," she commanded forcefully, tugging on her arm._

_The doctor refused and the two struggled in the doorway for a few minutes. The jeep driver was just about to hop out and help Chris when he saw someone else reach her first._

_A hand appeared from behind Christine and gripped the doctor's arm. "Let her go," came a quiet Cajun voice. Chris and the doctor both looked to find Gene standing behind Chris, eyes dark with fury. "Unhand my nurse."_

_"Your nurse?" the doctor said. "No, she's just a replacement trying to run away. I don't care that she's your little girlfriend. She can't leave, we need the hands."_

_"No. She's a field nurse with Easy Company and she's comin' with me," the Cajun told the doctor, his voice colder than the snow falling outside. And with that Gene tugged Chris from the doctor and walked over to a jeep. They got in the jeep, which took off back to the line._

_Chris looked over at Gene, who still looked furious and asked him what he was doing here. "Well," Gene replied, calming slightly, "I had to bring in a replacement who got cut up pretty bad from tree splinters. I was about to unload him from the jeep when I saw you struggling in the doorway."_

_"He thought I was a newbie trying to run away by dressing up like a soldier," Christine said frowning. She smiled when she looked back at Gene. "Thank you for helping me. I would miss you boys terribly if I was stuck back in a hospital."_

_Gene's anger had melted away with her smile. He had been so mad when he saw the doctor trying to pull her inside. Who did he think he was, handling Christine like that? She belonged to Easy, not him. Now that he was heading back to the line, Christine in tow, he became peaceful once again. "So, I guess we can't send you to the hospital anymore. You just cause problems," he teased with a soft smile._

_"Yeah, yeah. I just cause problems everywhere I go," she said, laughing. The jeep had just dropped them off and they headed off to go do rounds. Well, Chris went off to do rounds. Gene went off to find Winters._

_"She what?" Winters asked. He paused mid-swipe. Winters was shaving out in the freezing snow. He was almost done when Gene walked over to him._

_"She nearly got stolen, sir," the soft-spoken medic repeated. "She was mistaken for a nurse and a doctor wasn't about to let her go. I had to intervene."_

_"Wow," he said, wonder written across his face. It was hard to imagine their gentle Doc getting into an altercation of any kind. "They are so short on nurses that they will grab anyone? Well, I suppose it's best not to send Chris back there. Huh. We really almost lost our nurse," he trailed off, face still slack with amazement._

_Gene nodded before agreeing, "Yes, sir. We almost lost her."_

_"Tell her that she is not allowed to leave the line without someone accompanying her. We don't want to risk losing her." Winters had never thought about what might happen if Chris went back to a hospital. It was a little scary, thinking about it. What if she had wanted to stay? He knew that he wouldn't be the only one disappointed at the loss of their cheery nurse. She had wormed her way into the hearts of all the men and she was a damn-good field nurse. Winters hated to think about how much morale would drop if she left them. But it seems that there is no reason to worry, she had wanted to come back, to be their nurse._

_"Yes, sir." Gene headed off to find Chris and deliver the order. He found her with Buck and Harry. Buck was recounting some of his time in college, well the parts he could remember. Buck felt like he had been in the war so long, he could barely remember what life back home was like. Talking to Chris about what he remembered seemed to help him recall the feel of home, so he was always happy to have the nurse around. Harry was listening half-heartedly. He was drifting off in his little world, thinking of his own home and wondering what Kitty was doing._

_"Chris. I just got back back from talkin' to Winters," Gene began, crouching down next to the foxhole, "and he wanted me to tell you that you are not allowed to leave the line without at least one other person with you. Your escort must be of the uninjured variety, of course." He smiled at her indignant expression, amusement dancing in his eyes. Buck and Harry were very confused. Escort? Uninjured variety?_

_"Why'd he say that, Doc?" Buck asked looking between the two. Doc looked over at Buck, mirth written across his face, before telling him what happened at the hospital. By the time he finished his short story, Buck and Harry were laughing so hard that they had drawn stares from a couple of soldiers that had been walking by._

_Chris huffed and crossed her arms. "I'm glad you guys find that funny. I didn't."_

_"Aw, Chris, don't be mad. It's not surprising, really," Harry said between chuckles._

_"What's not surprising?" Chris asked. She was confused. Was Harry talking about the fact that she would be mistaken for a nurse and then accused of deserting? She most definitely would not be deserting. She had asked to stay with them, hadn't she?_

_"It's not surprising that they would try and steal you. After all, you are Easy's field nurse and the best damned nurse in existence. They probably wanted your medical expertise and pretty smile," Harry explained, then he threw his arm around her before adding, "You're just irresistible." This caused Buck and Gene to start laughing again._

_"I am none of the things you said, Harry Welsh, and you might want to be careful. Kitty might get jealous if she hears you say those things about another woman."_

_"Don't sell yourself short, kid," Buck chimed in, "You are awesome and adorable. Your smile has pulled us out of darkness more than once."_

_Chris shook her head. "You two are being overly dramatic. Knock it off," she ordered. She was happy that they seemed to think so highly of her but then she felt guilty. They seemed to think so much of her, but she really wasn't that great. She is eons behind her parents' skill and her smile isn't that bright or pretty. However, she started to believe that maybe she really was a little better than she thought when Gene spoke up._

_None of the boys could believe she thought so little of herself. They couldn't understand how she even started to think that she was anything less than wonderful. She helped them all keep their sanity and more while out in this frozen hell-hole. She would take their minds off the possibility of dying and help them remember better times without too much home-sickness. She's helped so many, wounded or not, all with little thought of herself._

_"Chris, ya really are all those things and more. You have lots of medical experience, better than what they give us medics and you're smile is beautiful. You are always so cheerful and happy that it spreads to those around ya. You're like our own personal little ray of sunshine," Gene said before standing up and walking away._

123

Needless to say, that was the last time she went to the hospital. It wasn't because she was afraid of not coming back. She was afraid of being a burden to the men and of the amount of teasing she would get if stolen again. Naturally, later that day, Buck and Harry had told everyone of her plight and ordered them to accompany her to the hospital anytime she had to venture into town. They all laughed, Bill, Malarky, Luz and Skip the hardest. After everyone caught their breath, the teasing started. None of the men would let her live down the fact that she was mistaken for a runaway nurse and she had to have Gene come save her. Chris didn't want to face the ribbing she would get if she had to trouble one of the men into going to the hospital with her.

Chris realized that with all of her reminiscing, it was almost time for lunch. She headed over to the clearing to go eat.

123

"That's it," Perco said to his companions, "I'm gonna say something. Hey Chris," he called to the nurse, "why do you always sit by Lieb, eh? Everyday, all the time, you always sit by him. Why not one of us? I don't bite."

Chris looked at Perco, with an unreadable expression before it turned to one of incredulity. Then she looked at Joe. "I have noticed, since I have arrived, everyone calls you Lieb. Why do they call you that?"

Malarky answered her question, "It's because his name's Liebgott. So we just took off the end and call him Lieb. Like what we did to your name." He, like everyone else, was wondering why she was asking. She didn't have a problem with any of the other nicknames and it made sense.

"Do you even know what that means?" she asked all of them. They just shook their heads, looking very confused. She turned to Joe, "You speak German. You never told them what it means?" A look of understanding dawned on his face and he smirked.

"Nope" he said, popping the 'p'. He just kept smirking, mischief in his eyes and Chris started to laugh. Everyone started to wonder just what they had been calling their comrade.

"What, uh, what does it mean?" Luz asked hesitantly, face filled with apprehension.

Chris looked over at George and stopped laughing, though her smile was still just as wide. "Well, George, you all have been calling Joe here 'love'," she said before she and Joe burst out laughing. All of the men blanched and some started turning green. They couldn't believe what she just told them.

"Ey, how come you never told us that, you bastard?" Bill yelled.

"Guess I never really thought about it tell Chris said somethin'," Joe replied.

Chris stopped laughing and wiped a tear from her eye before turning to Frank. "Oh, yeah. Perco. Perconte. Perconte!" She had to call his name a few times. He was too disgusted by the information he just heard to hear her the first time.

"Yea? Did you really have to tell me that? You just wanted to see how many of us would lose our lunch" he accused, before starting to brush his teeth.

"I never. I just thought you boys might want to know what you were saying. You know, you should never use a word unless you know what it means. But I digress. I wanted to answer your earlier question, about why I sit next to Joe. I don't sit next to you because you brush your teeth so much that they're white enough to be a neon sign saying "Here I am! Target for shells!"" She waved her arms to emphasize her point. Everyone laughed except Perco. He was muttering about how they all would be sorry when their teeth fell out.

No one else asked why she wouldn't sit by them and the subject changed to more familiar topics.

123

"Now Doc, you just stay here. It's a scouting mission and we don't want you hurt," Martin told Doc. Peacock was taking a group out closer to the line and Doc had tried to join them. Martin wasn't going to let him because medics didn't get to go on any of these types of missions. Chris knew that, but she wanted to go anyway. She couldn't stand the wait, desperately searching for figures coming back, walking on their own two feet, uninjured. It was the waiting that killed her and that is why she didn't immediately join the group, like Gene had tried.

Instead, she took a different approach. Chris walked parallel to the group til they were a ways away from their departure point. Then she slipped in back by Bull. He looked over at her and she held a finger up to her mouth, the universal command to be quiet. Bull just frowned at her. "Please, Bull. I'll stay in back, outta the way. I promise," she whispered-pleaded.

Bull shook his head then quietly said, "Fine, but you be careful. I don't want you sticking around if it gets dangerous."

"Thank you, Bull," Chris said. Babe and his replacement friend Julian turned around, having heard the last bit of conversation. Chris smiled and waved before putting her fingers to her lips. Babe's mouth was set in a hard line, he didn't think she should be out here. He knew Martin had refused to let Doc come and he agreed that it is too dangerous. Julian, on the other hand, had no idea what to think about the nurse's presence. 'Operation: Sneak into Patrol, success,' Chris thought to herself. Martin didn't know she was there, so he couldn't tell her to go back and the only three who did know, wouldn't tell him. Chris disagreed with Johnny on this; she thought it would be even more vital to have a medic on these patrols than normal just in case anything happened.

They reached the clearing in no time. Martin sent Julian out first. That's when the bullets came flying. Julian got hit in the neck. Julian had one hand on his bleeding throat, the other outstretched towards Johnny. Martin started to go out to get him but the Germans kept firing and Johnny just couldn't reach him. The rest of the men started setting up behind the piles of logs, firing back at the Germans. Babe, Bull, and Christine crawled up to Martin.

"I can get him, Sarge," Babe said, reaching for his friend.

Johnny looked over to his companions. "What the hell are you doing here, Chris?" Johnny yelled. Babe had to pull back to miss being hit by the Germans.

"I'm here in case anything happens, which it did," she replied, eyes never leaving Julian. Babe kept trying to crawl out to reach him, but the Germans continued to fire.

"Julian! Hang on! I'm gonna get you! Look at me!" Babe was screaming now, unable to reach the kid. It was killing Chris. She, too, started to crawl towards Julian before being yanked back by Bull and Johnny. Christine glared at the two of them before whipping her head around, looking for something. She obviously found what she was looking for, because she started crawling along the line of logs they were hiding behind. A long, thick branch. She grabbed it and went back to Babe.

"Julian! Listen to me!" she yelled, trying her hardest to get the kid's attention. "Grab the branch, Julian. Please, kid, grab it and we'll pull you in." Babe, too, started telling Julian to grab the branch. Julian feebly grabbed it, but when they started pulling him in, he let go. He had lost so much blood, he couldn't hold on. He was too weak. Bull had to pick up Babe and Chris to get them to leave. Babe kept screaming that they would come back for Julian while he was retreating. Chris didn't say anything as Bull and Martin dragged her back. She couldn't say anything; she knew that the kid was almost gone. It was a good thing that Bull still had a hand on her, because she wasn't watching where she was going. Her eyes were open, but all she could see was Julian. When he fell, while he chocked on his own blood, Babe being unable to reach him, Julian letting go of the branch, the life leaving his eyes as the pool of blood grew around him. She saw it all, but those where the only things she saw.

She was jerked out of her daze when Bull pulled her to a halt. Martin walked off without reprimanding her for sneaking into the patrol. Everyone felt poorly enough as it was. Bull deposited her in the food line, made sure she got something to eat, then guided her to her seat beside Gene. Gene had heard what happened from the others while he treated man who was hit while retreating. Just as Chris started to eat, Winters walked over to Martin. Chris stopped eating when Johnny said that Julian got hit. She started shaking when Martin told Winters that they couldn't get to him.

"Chris. It's ok. Ya need to eat. It was no one's fault, especially not yours," the medic comforted. He nudged her with his elbow. She looked at him, took a deep breath, then proceeded to eat. Gene had finished before her, but he sat next to her, allowing her to lean on him, while she slowly ate. Occasionally, she would shake her head, like she was clearing her thoughts. The less food there was on her plate, the more despair left her face. By the time she was done, she looked no worse than she did after other deaths. Julian's death had really hit her hard. He had been just a kid, barely older than her. She had heard Babe teasing him, because he was still a virgin. Hell, even Chris wasn't one, though not exactly by her choice, but still! He was too young to be out here, too young to die. His eyes, though, it was his eyes that haunted her the most. They told her that he was screaming for help, for the pain to stop, for his mother. Even though he couldn't say a word, his eyes were saying plenty and she had heard it all. She couldn't reach him to give him morphine for the pain, or even a hand to hold when he stopped breathing. He died all alone, watching his friends leave him behind. She should have stayed, if only so that he knew someone cared. She shouldn't have let Bull pull her away. She should have thought of using a branch to reach him earlier, when he would have had the strength to hold on. No, she hadn't pulled the trigger, but she also hadn't been good enough to save him or even stay with him. She was "Death's Angel", but she hadn't even finished her role: after being there to determine imminent death, she was supposed to offer comfort til the end.

Yes, she had finished her food and the pain had subsided, but she knew it would come back when she would try to sleep. His face would be one of the more prominent ones in her nightmares, but that was something to worry about later. Christine could tell that Gene was worried about her, so she pulled herself together. He was very observant, especially when it came to people.

Gene was tempted to stay with her, he could tell that her heart was in turmoil, but she gave him a pained smile and said, "I'll be fine, Gene. I'm going to go sit with the fellas and go on my rounds, as usual. Nothing to worry about. I'll see you later. Go on." She pushed him lightly and shooed him away with her hands to emphasize her command. He stood up and looked at her. She just waved him off and started to head towards Joe. Winters was sitting next to Bull, so when Chris sat next to Liebgott, she was staring over his head to gaze at Babe. He seemed to be taking the kid's death even harder than her. She had no idea what she could say to comfort him. While she was trying to find a way to help him, he looked up and glared at her. Christine was taken aback by the hatred in his face. She hurriedly got up, causing Joe to turn and look at her.

"Everything alright?" he softly asked. He could see that she was upset, but he had no idea how to comfort her. She was a girl, and thus sensitive, something Joseph Liebgott most definitely was not, except when it came to his religion.

"It will be, Joe. I just don't want to sit. It's too cold, so I am going to walk around a bit," she replied. He was about to question her some more, but caught the pained expression on her face and let her walk off without saying another word. Babe continued to glare at her as she walked away. No one had seen the hatred on his face and the soft conversations continued as before.

123

Gene was worried about Babe. He, too, noticed how hard Babe was taking Julian's death and Gene wanted to keep an eye on him. Gene had found Babe heading towards the medic's foxhole and caught up with him. The two were just about to hop in when Chris appeared out of the woods.

Chris looked up and saw the other two. "Babe," she began.

"Just stay away! It's your fault we couldn't save him! You're a medic, you should've done something besides sitting there watching him bleed out! You just sat there as he was coughing up his own blood! Why didn't you do something? He was just a kid!" Babe's screaming had caused anyone who was nearby to come running.

Chris looked shocked, horrified, and guilty, all at once. Gene was also shocked, but snapped out of it and grabbed Babe's arm. "Edward, knock it off. Calm down," the medic calmly ordered.

Babe whirled around to face the medic, yanking his arm away. "I told you stop calling me Edward, damn it!"

"Ok, Heffron. It's gonna be ok. Just get into the foxhole," Gene said, pulling Babe with him. This time Babe didn't fight him. His face had lost its angry edge and he looked hollow and lost again. His eyes were empty as he allowed the medic to push him into the foxhole. Gene had turned around searching for Chris. He found her rooted to the spot, staring at the space Babe had been in when he started yelling at her. She looked up into Gene's eyes and shook her head when he started walking towards her.

"It's ok. Just help Babe," she ordered before disappearing back into the trees. The small gathering that had witnessed the end of Babe's rant had been successfully dispersed by Lip.

"Is he going to be ok?" Lip asked Gene, using his head to gesture towards the foxhole Babe currently occupied. Lip had heard about what happened to Julian and knew that the two had been close, but Lip didn't know why Babe would blame Christine for Julian's death. It sounded like there wasn't anything that could have been done.

"I think so. I think it's just shock and grief. Hopefully some sleep will fix him up," the medic replied. He just hoped Chris would be ok. She didn't need that on top of the guilt she already felt. Both men stared into the space Christine disappeared into, wondering where she went.

Chris couldn't believe what she heard. It made her feel a hundred times worse, hearing her fears screamed out in the open by Babe. She was walking around, not too far away from the company, listening to the accusations ring in her head.

"Is that you Chris?" Chris looked up to see Joe Toye sitting on a fallen tree, changing his socks. He was still fighting trench foot and had to change and dry his socks on a daily basis.

"Yeah," she replied, walking over to Joe. He patted the space next to him before continuing to change his socks. She numbly walked over to him before plopping down beside him. She watched him finish hanging his socks around his neck to dry them. "Your feet getting any better?"

"A bit, or so says Doc. I can still hardly feel them, but they're getting better. No way am I sticking them under Bill's ass to warm them," he said before looking at her, expecting a laugh. He was a little surprised at the shell-shocked expression she was wearing.

"Under his ass?" she asked, her face slowly coming back to life.

"Yeah," Joe explained, "to warm them up. I said no way in hell." Chris started to smile, in turn causing Joe to smile. "Almost as stupid as sticking your hands under your arms."

"Hey," Chris cried, indignant, "It worked, didn't it?"

Joe laughed. "Yes, I guess it did. But it still was a stupid idea." He got up and held his hand out for her. "Come on. Let's head back to get some shut eye." Joe could tell that something was up. She's never up this late unless she is with Gene or there has been a shelling, so he figured he might as well take her back to the foxhole for a bit. She needed someone to look out for her, if only sometimes. After a moment, she put her hand in his and he pulled her up. He threw his arm around her shoulder and they walked back to the foxhole he shared with Bill.

"God damn, Joe. What took you so long?" Bill asked with a yawn, before he saw Christine. "Oh, you found a friend. Come on in, Chris." Chris slid down next to Bill and Joe slid down on her other side. "What brings you to these parts of the woods?" he asked.

"Our foxhole got a little too crowded. Babe is really torn up over Julian and needs Gene to help him out." Chris tried to keep her voice from wavering. Apparently she succeeded as neither Joe nor Bill called her on it. However, both of them could tell she was a little upset, so they didn't push the matter.

"Well, you can come in with us anytime. The more the merrier," Bill told her.

"Thanks guys. Good night," she said, closing her eyes.

"Night, Chris," they replied softly before drifting off the sleep. Chris had stayed awake for another hour until exhaustion took over and she fell into an uneasy sleep. Just as she predicted, she had nightmares, all with Julian as the star of the show. She slept for a few hours before waking just before dawn. Instead of getting up to do her rounds, she stayed sandwiched between Bill and Joe. She pushed the nightmares into the back of her mind before letting the calm of the morning surround her.

Bill and Joe slept for another hour and were starting to wake up when Lip came over. "Chris, there you are," Lip said, looking relieved.

Chris was worried that Lip now looked relieved. "What happened? Who's hurt?" she asked as she struggled to get out of the foxhole.

Lip hurried over and put his hand on her shoulder, pushing her back in. "Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to check on you. I got up a little while ago and no one had seen you." Chris is usually up and about by now, so it was worrisome that she was unaccounted for. Lip lowered his voice before he asked, "Are you ok? From yesterday, I mean."

Chris looked at the two men she was sharing a foxhole with to make sure that they were waking up, not listening to her conversation, before replying, "I'm fine, Lip. Thanks for asking. Did you check on Babe? Is he ok?"

Lip would readily admit he was surprised that she actually looked just fine and was so obviously concerned for Babe. He had been yelling cruel and terrible things at her yesterday, blaming her for something that wasn't her fault. She had looked like she was about to shatter when she left, but she seemed almost cheery now and didn't seem to blame Babe for anything he had said. In fact, it was just the opposite, she was worried about him. Lip gave her a small smile before answering her questions. "Yea, I looked in on him and he seemed better. Doc said that he was coping a bit better now, too, that he had just needed some sleep." Lip didn't want to bring up the scene from yesterday and make her depressed again so he said goodbye to the three and walked off to go check on everyone else.

It was at breakfast that someone finally said something.

Babe had glared so spitefully at Chris all throughout breakfast, she had barely been able to eat. Gene was at a loss. He wanted to tell Babe to knock it off, but Chris insisted that it was fine, he was just trying to cope with his friend's death. Gene knew that and he felt bad for Babe, which was why he let Babe stay with him and Spina last night, but all night he had worried about Chris. Lip had kindly dropped by around dawn to tell Gene that she was fine. She had apparently spent the night with Bill and Toye, so at least she hadn't wandered all night, alone. Lip had said she was almost back to normal and concerned for Babe, but now that she was under Babe's hateful gaze, she was shaking and slowly falling apart. Gene didn't know what to do.

Johnny had noticed that all morning Babe had been glaring at their nurse. Martin had heard him screaming at her last night, but Lip had assured him that it was only grief, and he would be better soon. But this had gone on long enough. Martin could see that their nurse was affected by the glare and it wasn't fair to her. She had tried just as hard as Babe to save Julian and she had been just as upset, but now, not even a full day later, she was trying to go back to her duties. It was Babe who was acting childish. Johnny knew how he felt and sometimes Johnny felt like blaming the world, but Babe has taken it too far and Johnny was sick of it. "Babe, come with me a minute," Martin ordered, standing up and walking a ways off.

Babe walked over to Johnny, "Yea, Sarge?" God, Babe looked awful. He needed to put the grieving on hold or he would die out here.

"Why are you trying to kill out nurse with death glares?" Johnny asked, folding his arms over his chest.

A fire lit in Babe's eyes. "It's her fault-"

Johnny cut him off. "That's bullshit, Heffron, and you know it. She tried just as hard as you to save the kid. She is just as torn up, but she knows that she can't keep grieving for him out here. She knows that we all depend on one another and has pulled herself together for all of us. You need to man up and do the same. And you sure as hell need to stop blaming her. There is no way that the kid's death is her fault and you are tearing her to pieces. In case you were too self-absorbed to notice, she barely ate yesterday and she looked like you do, a ghost, broken. Got it?" Johnny asked. His little speech seemed to shock Babe back into reality. He nodded. Johnny nodded back, "Good. Now go apologize."

Babe headed back to camp with Johnny watching him go. Babe couldn't find Christine. He asked Liebgott if he had seen where she went.

"Eh, she didn't stay too long. She wanted to go take a walk. She's probably wanderin' from foxhole to foxhole." Joe was a little concerned about Chris's behavior. He could see that she was still upset, so he, like everyone else, decided to give her some space.

Babe thanked Joe before heading off. He had no idea where to look for Chris. After getting chewed out by Martin, Babe started to feel real guilty about the way he treated Chris. Johnny was right, Babe was unfair and now Babe was truly sorry. Chris had done nothing to deserve this and she had enough on her plate anyway, with all of the other deaths she sees. After walking from foxhole to foxhole for an hour, they were attacked with mortars. Babe threw himself into an empty foxhole and waited out the shelling. When it stopped, he got out. He heard someone crying for a medic. He realized this would be the perfect way to find Christine; she would be heading to the call, so he could find her there. It turns out he was right. Chris was patching up a guy whose arm was half blown off. He stayed in the background as Luz radioed for a jeep and Christine treated the man.

The jeep had taken off with the man so George and Chris leaned back into the foxhole, taking deep breaths. George looked up and saw Babe watching them. "Hey, Babe. Whatchya doin'?"

"I, um, well, I . . ." Babe stammered, turning very red in the face.

"You, um, well, um . . ." George mimicked him and had hand movements, suggesting he finish his thought.

"Christine," Babe finally mumbled, his face as red as his hair.

"Sure, Babe. Let's take a walk," Chris suggested. She hoped that he didn't want to start yelling at her again. She pulled herself up and walked away from George, Babe close behind. They continued walking, Babe half a step behind Christine for a good ten minutes before Babe said anything.

Babe took a deep breath and stopped walking. Christine turned around to face him. "I'm sorry. For yelling at you and everything. I was just . . . It wasn't right. You tried so hard to save him, but we just, . . ." Babe trailed off.

"Shh, it's ok, Babe. I know you didn't mean it. You were just upset that Julian was taken away. I get it. No one should have to see their friend die that way, especially one so young." Christine comforted him. He grabbed onto her and she hugged him back. He started to silently cry and she held onto him, rubbing circles on his back.

After lunch, Chris watched Gene walk off before going to sit next to Joe. As she walked by Babe, she paused and squeezed his shoulder. He looked up at her with his red-rimmed eyes and she smiled down at him, reassuringly, before taking her seat beside Joe. Everyone saw the action and was relieved. Things would have been bad if Babe continued to make Christine feel like shit. His comrades could sympathize for a bit, but their tolerance only went so far, and soon they would have snapped. Martin was especially proud that his little speech seemed to have worked.

That night, right before she fell asleep between a sleeping Gene and snoring Spina, she saw someone poke their head into the foxhole. It was Babe. "Hey, Chris."

She blinked the sleep from her eyes. "Hey, Babe. What's up?"

"Will you, uh, stay with me tonight? It's just that the foxhole feels kinda empty right now." Pain flashed across his face and Chris's heart filled with pity.

"Of course," she said. He shifted from foot to foot while he waited for her. They headed over to his foxhole in silence. They hopped in, one after the other, and huddled under the blanket. Chris turned to Babe, "Is this better now? I'm sure it's a little warmer with two people under the blanket instead of one."

He gave a weak smile before pulling her close to him. "I'm sorry. Tomorrow I will go find someone else to buddy up with, but-"

Christine cut him off. "It's no problem. I'm already here. No quit talking so I can sleep," she ordered jokingly. He stopped talking and pulled her tighter and they fell asleep. Sometimes a soldier just needs someone he can hold on to.

Reviews appreciated.


	11. The Time of the Month

There was a constant stream of replacements joining Easy out in the woods overlooking Foy due to the high number of casualties they suffered. Some casualties resulted from mortar strikes, others from direct confrontation with the Germans themselves. It was this last kind that frustrated Christine the most and because she couldn't be there to help treat the wounded. When they were shelled, there was no real place to hide or a place to be safe except for being far away from the line. Direct confrontation was different. There was a distinct safe area, farther towards the back and if you did not leave that area, you were safe. It was in that area that Chris was forced to reside when the men had a chance to really attack the Germans.

Winters had ordered Christine to stay in the safe zone until the firing had stopped. Christine argued that she didn't answer to him and she would be the first one out to treat the men. He said that when she accepted the position as field nurse, she accepted the fact that she was in the military, thus putting her under military, and consequently, his, command. She replied that yes, she did accept the position, and the subsequent dangers of being on the line. He said that this was different and that she should not be taking any unnecessary risks. She protested that the other medics were out in the line of fire and she shouldn't be treated any differently. He shot back that it didn't matter, she was not going out there. She huffed and said that he couldn't stop her. He ordered Nix to use force if necessary to restrain her and not allow her to get too close to the fighting. End of story.

Now, Christine was forced to watch, far away, as men went down, unable to help them. In some fights, this wasn't as big of a problem: there were a couple of men shot here and there, no big deal. It was when there were too many injured for the few medics out there that Christine felt the raging fury grow inside of her while she stood completely helpless. The logical part of her mind understood what Winters was saying (but only a little bit), but she thought it didn't make any sense to waste available resources. If you had a medic, use it!

It seemed that after every casualty, replacements were brought in and when they arrived, they obviously needed to be shown the ropes. They were all gung-ho about killing Germans. _"When will we get to see some action?"_ they asked, _"Will we get to drop in Berlin?"_ These boys were so green that they seemed to arrive one day and get killed the next. They were so eager to be soldiers, yet they had no idea what war was like. The older soldiers tried to help them and look out for them, but it wasn't always enough. This caused some of the men to hate replacements. What was the point of getting attached to a person if they were just going to get killed?

Skip, however, was not one of those individuals. No, in fact, Skip made it his job to introduce the newbies to the guys and give them a grand tour of the place. When Chris first arrived, many of the men tended to ignore Skip as he went along with his little act, but Chris soon noticed that they were starting to become more involved. At first, she thought that she might be imagining things, but after another half dozen introductions, she figured it out.

The one thing that got her boys' attention was when Skip introduced her. It soon became a bit of a game: Skip would start off introducing the soldiers along with the injuries they have received and the town they got injured in. He would get them comfortable before introducing Christine. That's when things got interesting. Skip made the replacements all relaxed, if only a little worried, during the introductions, before he led the boys into the lion's den. If there was one thing Chris had learned out here, it was that the older soldier's loved teasing and scaring the replacements. As soon as Chris was introduced, the men would attack. They seemed to take turns, threatening the replacement. Most of the threats were indirect: Bull was capable of smashing a man like a toothpick and had taken a real liking to Chris; Liebgott here, he watches out for her, but he's real clumsy, always fumbling grenades; Chris's the only who can get Shifty to say more than a dozen words, by the way, he's our best shot, can shoot the wings off a fly; Bill's a real brawler and doesn't like anyone messing with his nurse. The list goes on and on, all accompanied with sharp, dangerous smiles that promised pain.

It seemed like every man got a turn, defending the nurse. Even the quiet Doc Roe became a source of fear to the replacements. Rule number one: never piss off Speirs or a medic. The first one, well there were plenty of rumors explaining why it would be best not to get on his bad side. The second one though, the replacements didn't seem to think of. The reasoning was simple: Who was going to patch you up when your insides were becoming your outsides? The medic. And if the medic was mad at you? Well, you better get used to seeing your insides staying on the outside. Besides that, Gene could look pretty scary when he wanted to.

There was one threat that worked a little too well, perhaps, and that one was an accident. Lieutenant Speirs was escorting the nurse on her vegetable gathering trip when they passed through a gathering of men. Skip was initiating a replacement when the duo walked up. Skip introduced the Lieutenant and the nurse. The whole time Speirs was watching the replacement, who in turn was staring at the female. Speirs noticed this and startled everyone by suddenly questioning the replacement, "What are you looking at, Private?"

The man in question gulped and whipped his head around to look at the intimidating Lieutenant. He was quiet for too long. "Are you looking at our nurse, Private?" His voice was sharper than the biting cold that surrounded them. The rest of the men were now looking at the very nervous private, wondering how he would respond. It was too bad really, they kind of liked him. Oh well, they would send his tags back to his family.

He gulped again before answering, "Um, no."

Speirs narrowed his eyes even further. "When you speak to an officer, you say sir."

"Ah, yes, sir-," the replacement was cut off by Speirs.

"And you should look at her. She may very well save your life. But, do not look at her too much, for if I hear you are annoying her, distracting her, anything, I will kill you. Got it?" Speirs seemed to encompass the gathering, his very presence forcing the replacement to shrink in fear.

At this point, Chris had grown very uncomfortable and a tad embarrassed. 'This is probably what having older brothers is like. Very over-protective. All of these men. I feel sorry for any of their younger sisters, and maybe their older ones, too,' she thought to herself as they walked away. The other men were a little shaken by their officer's fierce protectiveness, but were not too surprised. After Chris and Speirs walked away, they drug their Speirs-shocked companion off for the rest of the tour.

It took Christine nearly a week to get that replacement to stand within twenty feet of her. If she dropped into a foxhole that he was in, he would scramble out and stay away for hours. During meal times, he would sit as far away from her as possible, inhale his food, and dart off before Chris had a chance to join the rest of the boys. The men laughed at his reactions. Skip had told them what happened and they found it rather comical that a replacement was afraid of their gentle nurse. Eventually Chris asked Bull to hold the replacement to prevent him from running away. She walked up to him and sighed before speaking. "I know you are frightened by the Lieutenant. He is not one for making empty threats, but could you please stop running away from me? It's gotten rather old. Ron-"

"Ron?" the replacement asked. He was still scared stiff, but didn't struggle against Bull. It would have been futile.

"Lieutenant Speirs," she clarified before continuing, "He will not shoot you for being in the same foxhole as me. As long as you act like a gentleman, you have nothing to worry about and gentlemen do not take off like scared rabbits because a woman is nearby. Got it?" When he nodded Chris looked up at Bull. "You can let him go now Bull. Thank you."

Bull kindly smiled down at the nurse, who wasn't that short, about 5'7'', but fairly short compared to Bull's giant frame. "No problem, Chris. I just hated to see you get upset because that boy kept runnin' from you."

Thankfully, Speirs hasn't been around when any of more of the replacements have come in. It was too much of a hassle to fix the problems he caused, Chris thought.

123

_December 17, 1944_

"Ouch," Chris said, holding her lower stomach. She had snuck away from camp to a little secluded area in the forest. She didn't want anyone sneaking up on her. She started her period this morning and was getting cramps. When she got her period last month, she was relieved that she wasn't pregnant, but then she worried about how she would hide the fact that she was bleeding. She ended up using some bandages as a make-shift pad. They were so low on supplies though, that she only had two bandages: she would wear one then switch the bandages and wash the dirty one. This wasn't exactly ideal, but Chris didn't have much choice. She would go a ways away from camp before changing the bandages, so no one would know. This had worked perfectly and no one had noticed anything.

This time, however, might be a little different. Usually, Chris wouldn't experience mood swings or get any cramps. She might experience some mild discomfort, but no real pain. Now she was having terrible cramps, barely able to walk upright. She had no idea what excuse she would use when someone asked her what was wrong, because someone would notice, there was no doubt about that. She was washing the soiled bandage when she heard a voice call her name. She whirled around, holding the bandage behind her back to find Lip heading her way.

"I thought I saw you head this way. What were you doing?" he asked. He noticed the nurse walk off, away from everyone else and was curious as to her destination.

"Um, nothin' Lip. I just wanted to stretch my legs a bit, s'all," she mumbled, willing the sergeant to turn and walk away. She was out of luck.

Lip saw a bandage soaked with blood behind her back. "Wait, is that blood? Are you injured?" He started looking her up and down, looking for any signs of a wound.

"No, no, I'm fine," she protested before doubling over as a particularly vicious cramp swept through her abdomen. Lip quickly kneeled beside the girl, concerned.

Now Lip may not have gone to Harvard or Yale, but he had a wife and he could put two and two together. Bloody bandage plus stomach pain in a woman. "Are you on your period?"

Chris looked up at him, in horrified embarrassment. Lip, blushed too, when he realized what he asked, but he was persistent. "Are you? Are you having cramps?"

She looked back down before nodding, tears getting ready to leak down her face. "I think you should go to the hospital, get off the line, for a few days," he said while rubbing her back.

"No, I'm fine," she choked on the last part as another cramp rippled through her, tears gone with the thought of being sent away.

"Easy, there. Look, you can barely stand, you won't be any help out here. Come on, I'll help you back." Lip stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and allowed herself to be pulled up. Lip held onto her as they walked back. Despite her protests, he took her directly to the little HQ tent where Winters, Nixon, and Speirs were currently sitting.

"Lip," Winters looked up in surprise, "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?" Lip gently deposited Christine into a chair and the rest of the men in the tent looked at her in concern; she seemed to be in pain.

"Chris needs to get off the line, sir," Lip said.

"And why is that?" Nix asked.

"Well, sir," Lip began, ignoring the glares Christine sent him, "she is on her period and experiencing severe cramps. She can hardly stand." Winters was blushing fiercely as he glanced at Christine before looking at Lip. Nix had his mouth open in shock and Christine wasn't sure if it was because of what he heard or if it was having heard it from First Sergeant Lipton. Speirs kept his face blank, but Chris could see a look of extreme shock in his eyes.

Winters couldn't even look at Christine. "Yes, I think we can arrange to have her off the line for a bit. Nix, go get the jeep," he ordered. Nix, for once, did what he was told without protest.

"I think I'll go check on the men," Speirs muttered before ducking out of the tent.

"Winters, sir, I really don't need to go to the hospital. I will be fine. Please," she pleaded. It was mortifying enough to have Lip confront her, then to have him tell the others about her female problems and now to have to be sent away because of them? It was too much. The rest of the men would ask where she went and then they would be discussing her problem. It was too embarrassing to imagine.

Winters merely shook his head. "You are going to the hospital to rest and that's the end of it. You can come back later." He walked over to her and held out his hand. She glared slightly at it before sighing and pulling herself out of the chair. She tried to hide the wince, but Lip saw it and frowned. She noticed his frown and sent him daggers for getting her in this mess. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that he was just trying to look out for her, but she couldn't help but blame him for the whole situation and her embarrassment. Winters helped her into the jeep before walking around it to talk to Nixon.

"A week should suffice. Tell them that we are _temporarily_ loaning her to them, but we will be taking her back. If they ask why she is there, tell them that it's none of their concern," he ordered Nix. Nix nodded before waving and driving off. They drove in silence. Chris was grateful that Nix didn't bring the subject up.

123

Neither Lip nor Chris had noticed that they were being followed. Luz, Malarkey, Skip and Penkala had been walking around when they noticed Lip half-carrying their nurse back to the HQ tent. This spiked their curiosity. Was their nurse wounded? They scuttled over to hide behind the tent and listened in to the conversation.

After the jeep drove away, Luz turned to his companions. "Well, whattya know? Our Chris is all grown up."

"Shut up," hissed Malarkey. His face was as red as his hair. He knew that Chris was shy and probably didn't want anyone knowing about her predicament.

"No, no, no, Malark. We need to go tell the fellas. Remember, we were wondering if she was a real woman yet, since she's been here nearly two months and has never been all bitchy or nothing like the ladies back home," Skip said. The men really had been wondering. They had all had experience with women who were cycling and knew that it wasn't pretty, but they were a little confused. Their cheery little nurse had never turned into a fire breathing monster and she had been there long enough to have turned at least once. So, naturally the men talked, but never with Christine around.

They were walking over to Bill and Toye when they heard them discussing their nurse. "I can't believe it. She gets off the goddamn line, just like that? For a week?" Bill complained.

"Hey fellas. What are you talking about?" George asked, all innocent like.

"Lip just told us that Chris's sick and went to the hospital." Toye seemed concerned for the nurse, as did Bill, but he wasn't complaining as much.

"Sick, huh?" George asked, pretending to be puzzled. "I didn't know he considered being a girl being sick." Malarkey and Penkala left, not wanting to be a part of the rumor spreading.

"What?" Bill squawked.

"Well, remember what we were talking about a few days ago?" Skip asked.

"No, Skip. I don't. Anything in particular? We talk about lots of stuff, you idiot," Bill replied, annoyed.

"About Chris and why she has never bitched at us."

Joe started to catch on, "You talking about her period?"

"Yep. We just got back from listening to a rather interesting conversation. Turns out our little nurse is being sent off the line on account of some bad cramps. So, see? She is a woman, through and through," Skip finished his explanation.

"What are you boys talking about?" Came the voice of Buck Compton. He had been walking around, checking on the men when he saw the gathering. George and Skip had rather mischievous looks on their faces and Buck grew more than a little worried.

"Oh, we were just telling these two that our little girl's all grown up," George answered, like a proud parent. He and Skip were taking great delight in showing off the fact that they knew something the others didn't.

"Huh?" was the only response.

"You know that Christine is in town for a bit?" Buck nodded. "She's not really sick. She's on her period. Lip found out and told Winters who sent her off the line for the time being." Understanding dawned on Buck's face. Yeah, he knew about 'that time of the month'. Back home, he would load up on chocolate and say "I'm sorry" every other sentence when his girlfriend was on her period.

"You boys might not want to spread that information around," Buck said, looking around him.

"Aw, why not?" George whined.

"Lip probably told the story he told for a reason," answered Buck before walking off, lost in thought. He wanted some time to sit and think about his girlfriend. She seemed distracted in her letters and Buck missed hugging her warm body to his.

"Well, he didn't actually tell us that we couldn't educate the rest of the men," Skip said, looking at his friend. Bill and Toye shook their heads.

That night Skip waited for Buck to walk away after eating. The COs were elsewhere and Lip was watching the line. He stood up and called everyone's attention. "Ok people. I hold the truth and shall enlighten you all."

Tab looked at Skip and laughed. "Yeah, what do you know?"

Skip smirked at Tab before addressing the crowd. "I happen to know why Chris isn't here."

"She's at the hospital, sick, dumbass," Tab shot back. "Sergeant Lipton already informed all of us about that."

Skips smirk grew more pronounced. "She's not really sick, per se. She's on her period."

The men had varied reactions and side conversations popped up like wild fire on a grass plain in July. "It was hard to tell. She never got all emotional, like my sisters do, so we could never tell if it was 'that time of the month'," one man said. The others agreed.

Bull spoke up. "I don't think she would want y'all to talk about this stuff, especially concerning her."

"It don't matter. She's not here," Luz countered. The boys liked their nurse, but they needed something new to talk about, and if it was about her female problems, so be it.

123

Nix parked the jeep in front of the hospital. Chris hopped out and trailed behind him. He grabbed the first nurse he found. "Hey, this is our field nurse, with Easy Company. She needs to stay here about a week. She has plenty of medical experience and can help you out. I need you to tell all of the drivers that they are not allowed to take her back until the week is up. But she will help you. Got it?" The nurse nodded, grateful for the extra help. She offered to take Christine right there.

"Actually, I still need her, but she will stay and help." The nurse hurried off and he turned to Christine. "I need you to point out that idiot doctor that tried to keep you here before." Christine looked around and pointed him out. They walked over to the man and Nix cleared his throat.

"Can I help you? Ah, the little runaway," he added when he saw Christine.

Nix grabbed his arm. "She's not a runaway, she's Easy Company's field nurse and she will be staying here for a week. She is highly skilled and will help out, but after the week is up, she is coming back to the line." His dark brown eyes were harder than steel and the doctor flinched under his gaze. He turned to Chris. "Here's where I leave you. You won't be coming back until the week is done. I am telling all of the drivers not to take you back and they will bring you here if they find you trying to escape. Even if you make it to the line, we will drag you back and leave you here."

"I understand," Chris said simply and she did. It was a wasted effort, trying to leave early.

"Good, now come here," he ordered. He pulled her into a hug and held onto her for a few moments. "See you later, kid. Stay outta trouble," he whispered into her hair.

She smiled up at him. "Yes, sir. Of course, sir." Nix returned her smile before leaving. Chris turned to the doctor, awaiting her assignment.

He looked down at her disdainfully. "What kind of training do you have?"

"Have you heard two surgeons with the last name of Engel?" she asked instead of answering his question.

He sniffed, "Of course. Any qualified doctor has heard of them."

Chris reached into her coats and shirt to pull out her dog tags for him to see. She gave him a wolfish smile that actually made him shake. "Well, I'm their daughter." Nothing else was said after that. No further explanation was necessary. She probably had more expertise than he did.

"Well then, I presume you know what to do, so go start changing bandages until an emergency comes in," he ordered before walking off. Christine's smile grew triumphant, knowing that she now had free reign over the place. Her smile dimmed however, remembering why she got sent here in the first place.

There were only a handful of nurses for the dozens of patients. They took shifts so that at least two nurses had a few hours to recuperate before going back to work. The hospital they worked in was really a church, so it was very cramped. The nurses and doctors filled a small house nearby. The dead were piled alongside the back of the church.

Chris decided to make the most of her time here. If she cared to admit, she would say that she was being defiant. Winters had ordered her to rest and she would do anything but. It wasn't only stubbornness that led to her refusal to take her breaks, there was simply too much to do. Her conscience wouldn't let her sleep while there was so much to get done. The first couple of days, instead of sleeping, she would creep to the far side of the church to help wash the bandages. There was a shortage of supplies here, too. Bandages were being made out of bed sheets.

Soon, some of the other nurses got wise and noticed that she was skipping her breaks. They kicked her out of the washing room so she took to hiding among the wounded. She would sit, talk to them, hold their hands, listen to their stories and spend time with them. It reminded her why she called herself "Death's Angel". They would say she was an angel, with her bright personality, beautiful face and shining smile, offering comfort. However, she looked that way usually to the men who were dying and was with them for their last breath. She thought it was merciful of Death to allow the men some comfort before they passed on.

_December 20, 1944_

On her third day in the hospital, there was a supply drop. Predictably, men came pouring in from the line, looking to pick up supplies. Chris quickly found Gene. He enveloped her in a hug, which she readily returned. His helmet had fallen to the floor and he momentarily forgot about it. He ended up having to talk over her head since she refused to let go of him.

"Hey, there. How are ya doin'?" the Cajun asked.

"I'm fine. How are you? You look like you haven't been eating. Gene, have you been starving yourself again?" she grew annoyed, like a mother reprimanding her son.

Gene chuckled softly. "I've been eatin', no need ta worry," he reassured.

He felt her nod into his chest. "Good, otherwise I would have to ask Bull to sit on you and Joe to shave half of your head before I got George to help me force feed you." Chris's head bounced a little against his chest from his shocked laughter. He had no idea where she came up with such a crazy threat, but was glad that she wasn't depressed about being here. He had worried about her, like many of the others. "I miss you. You and the others," she said quietly.

"I missed you, too," he replied just as softly. He bent his head so that his cheek rested on the top of her head and his short raven locks mixed with her hair. They closed their eyes, enjoying the peace and each other's company, before Christine pulled away. She helped him gather supplies before waving goodbye and heading back inside. Her heart ached, letting him go like that. Oh, how she wished to be back on the line. Those men had become her family and she missed them and the comfort that came from being around them. Chris shook her head to clear her thoughts away and went back to work.

Later that day, Chris talked to Renee. Renee didn't like having to treat the men who were coming in because half of them died upon arrival. She preferred real nurses' work, like changing bandages. Chris offered to take over her shifts of waiting for the incoming if she didn't force Chris out of the hospital to rest. Renee agreed, though she might not have if she knew that Chris hadn't slept since she got here. Yes, Chris was eating, she just wasn't resting.

_December 21, 1944_

"The supplies were a nice gift. A little early for Christmas, though," Renee commented.

"What?" Chris asked. She had been remembering the various hospitals she had worked in before coming to Bastogne when the French nurse suddenly spoke up.

"Christmas is in four days," Renee replied, already walking away, leaving Chris stunned. The holiday had snuck up on her. Tears threatened to surface when Chris realized it would be the first Christmas without her family. 'No, not without family,' she corrected, picturing the men sitting in a circle, eating horrid slop and telling bad sex jokes. 'I still have family,' she thought. 'Wait, what should I get them?' Chris was obsessed with providing her loved ones with gifts on Christmas. Back home, she would buy some presents and make the rest. Her parents had died before she thought of what she was going to get them this year.

Chris stumbled outside and slid down the wall. Her brain was a jumbled mess, four days without sleep. She turned her head and looked at the corpse next to her. There was a box hanging out of the breast pocket in the jacket. She grabbed the box. It was a pack of cigarettes. She didn't smoke. Her parents had shown her what smoking did to a person's lungs and Chris had no interest in possessing charcoal black, shriveled lungs. She didn't even want to try one because she knew of nicotine's addictive properties. A nurse at her parent's hospital had given her some research papers to read. There had been studies done on how the body reacted to nicotine and they proved that the body craved nicotine over oxygen. Chris did not want to tempt fate by smoking even one. Even though she didn't smoke, many soldiers did and she would never attempt to stop them. If it helped them in the war, far be it from her to make them stop. As far as she was concerned, they had seen things no one should and were allowed to have their vices.

But that box of cancer sticks gave her the perfect idea. She would give her boys cigarettes and gum. For the next two days, when her shifts were over in the hospital, she would leave the church. Everyone assumed that she was finally going to the house next door to sleep, but they were wrong. She continued her rebellion by refusing to sleep. Instead, she would go out back and start collecting the cigarettes and gum from the corpses.

_December 24, 1944_

It was dawning on the seventh day of her 'incarceration' as she liked to call it and she had collected enough cigarettes and gum out of the cast off clothes to have enough for all of Easy and a couple extra, depending on how many replacements were out there. She had idly wondered if she should try to find some Vat 69 for Nix, but determined it would be too difficult. She had been keeping her stash in an extra bag that she had found while searching the corpses and always carried it with her.

Chris didn't know what time she was allowed to leave, but hoped that she could bribe a driver to take her back to the line soon with a pack of cigarettes. That idiot doctor had stayed out of her way for the duration of her stay, so she didn't anticipate any problems leaving. She had already informed Renee that she would be leaving, so she should be free to go. She was on her way to the hospital when a jeep stopped right in front of her. She looked up to find Colonel Sink staring down at her.

"Hop in. I'm heading out that way and you could use a ride," he ordered, knowing that she was looking for a way back to the woods.

"Thank you, sir," she said and quickly obeyed. This was her ticket out of here. "Good morning, sir," she added, once she got settled in. Her Santa bag was next to her in the seat while her medic bag was resting in her lap. 'Good thing I stocked up last night,' she thought. She had been exhausted so it had taken her a few tries to fully restock her bag, but she was glad she did. It would have been silly to go back to the line with an empty bag.

"And good morning to you, too, Christine," Sink replied. "I was heading out to give a little message to Easy Company when I remembered that you would be allowed to leave the hospital today." He chuckled at her surprised expression. "Captain Nixon informed me that you were to rest in the hospital for a week and would be allowed back on the 24th. So, I decided as I was leaving that I could stop at the hospital and bring those boys two things: some news and their nurse."

"Thank you. That was very thoughtful," she said. She couldn't believe Nix had told the Colonel, but she was kind of glad he did, because if he hadn't, she wouldn't have a ride.

After that, the pair watched the scenery go by in silence. The ride seemed to take an eternity, but eventually, Chris could see foxholes. The driver stopped in a clearing and Winters greeted them. Sink told Winters to gather the men, but before he headed off, he greeted Christine.

"It's nice to see you, Chris," he said with a soft smile.

"Great to see you too, Dick," she replied. He pulled her into a one-arm hug before heading off to gather the men.

"Oh, and Winters," Sink called from the jeep. "Don't tell the boys about the 'package' I picked up on the way over. Let's make it a surprise." Winters hid his smile by ducking his head as he walked away.

Chris jumped out of the jeep and walked a ways off to hide behind a tree. She couldn't wait to surprise her boys.

Sink had finished up his speech, the men dispersing to go shiver in their foxholes, when Sink called them back to attention. "I forgot to mention. I picked up a . . . package . . . on my way here. Merry Christmas, boys." He motioned for Chris to come out from behind the tree. The effect was instantaneous. She barely walked two steps before a wave of men rushed towards her. Those that didn't run towards the nurse walked over. Very few people stayed away. She was crushed between so many people, all of them trying to pull her into a hug. Sink merely laughed at the soldiers before getting in his jeep and heading back to regiment. Winters merely grinned and shook his head. Nix and Speirs were beside him, both smiling. Nix decided it would be safer to stay by his friend and Ron refused to act so immature. They would have a chance to talk to their nurse later.

"Guys, I'm having trouble breathing," Chris gasped out. She was being pushed and pulled and crushed, on every side, all at once. Bull stepped up behind her and picked her up. Buck and Lip started telling everyone to back off, and give her a chance to breathe. The crowd dispersed, just happy with the knowledge that their nurse was back. Bull used this opportunity to welcome the nurse back. She gave him a squeeze before he set her down and walked away. Buck and Lip stood with her while she caught her breath.

"Thanks guys," she said. "It's nice to see you both."

"So you forgive me?" Lip asked, looking up at her after ducking his head. He highly doubted that she was still mad at him, but he had felt bad. Especially after learning that Luz and Skip had eavesdropped on the conversation and told everyone the real reason behind her temporary absence.

"There's nothing to forgive, Lip. You were only looking out for me and I appreciate it." He clapped her on the shoulder and walked off, leaving Buck to take Chris to get some food.

Buck threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close before leading her to food. "It's a good thing your back, Christine."

"What?" she gave him a funny look. Why would he say that?

"Well, things just haven't been quite right since you left. Let's just say that the men have been rather irritable without our little ray of sunshine," he began explaining, "Luz stopped all of his impersonations because you weren't there to make requests. Perco listlessly brushed his teeth, without any of his usual vigor. Doc didn't eat with us much, probably since you weren't there to force him to eat. Bill sulked around, he really missed you. Harry would constantly sigh; you were the only one who would listen to his talk of Kitty, we all now tell him to shut up. Malarkey wouldn't talk as much, lots of staring into space. Shifty would constantly hold his hands in front of him like he was braiding your hair; I swear, he was about to ask if he could play with ours. Skip gave piss-poor introductions, probably because you weren't there for the boys to get protective over. And finally, the two problem children." Buck paused before releasing Christine. They were almost to the clearing and he wanted to tell her just how bad for those two it was without her around before she was pulled away by anyone else.

"Speirs almost killed some men. He was extremely pissed off the whole time you were gone. If anyone dared to ask him what was wrong, he would mutter something about not having any vegetables to eat before walking off. He would go slinking around the foxholes and if someone looked at him the wrong way, he would have a gun at their head, ready to shoot." Chris was a bit shocked. Buck seemed very sincere, but Chris couldn't help but feel that he was being overly dramatic. Buck was indeed stretching the truth a bit, but Speirs had been extremely touchy.

"And Liebgott." Chris tensed, afraid of what the hot-headed Jew had done. "His foul mood rivaled Speirs. He barely talked and would yell at anyone for no reason. Once, a replacement sat next to him, where you usually sit and . . ." Buck trailed off, remembering Joe's reaction.

123

_The replacement had just sat down next to Joe, who had been talking to Popeye. Joe turned when he felt the replacement brush up next to him. He stared a moment in shock before fury passed over his face. He shoved the replacement off the trunk. He started screaming at him, asking him 'who the fuck he thought he was to sit there? It was her spot and there was no way in hell that bastard was good enough to sit there.' Winters had to pull Liebgott away and make him watch the line for the next ten hours before he calmed enough to go back with the others. Even now, Liebgott would glare at that replacement who made sure to stay out of Joe's way._

123

"Buck," Christine calling his name and pulling on his sleeve brought him out of the memory. "What happened?"

"Eh, Joe pushed him off the trunk and yelled a bit. Winters made him watch the line to cool down. Let's just say that the replacement, John, makes sure to stay out of his way. Anyways, it's good that you're back. Let's go eat, shall we?" he asked, offering her a smile.

Chris ate with Gene, who looked a little better than when she last saw him. He said that he just didn't like sitting and watching the boys mope about so he would take his food elsewhere. She nodded and listened to him talk about what happened while she was gone. When he had come back from getting supplies at the hospital, he had been grilled by almost every man out here about her well-being. He confirmed Buck's story, about how morose the mood was here.

Finally, as he was about to leave, he noticed the darkness around her eyes and how pinched her face was. It worried him. "Are you ok?"

She had been nodding off a little but jerked herself awake. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm just a little tired is all."

He wasn't convinced. "Don't talk too long and then go get some sleep. Don't let the boys keep you up, they can talk to you later," he ordered before walking off.

Chris made her way over to her spot, aware of the many eyes on her, but too tired to care. Surprisingly, they didn't all swarm to her. Instead, they acted as if she had never been gone, carrying on their own conversations but inviting her to join in.

That was until George asked, "So, how are you feeling? Better now that 'that time of the month' has passed?"

Christine stiffened and felt a blush rise to her cheeks. "What did you say?"

George looked slyly at Skip, "We had heard that you left since Mother Nature got the better of you this time. We're so proud that our little girl is growing up."

Skip added with a grin, "We couldn't help but be a little worried. You had never shown signs of being a real woman before. You know, getting all moody and stuff, so when we heard the news, we were so exited."

Christine's face was on fire from the embarrassment and she glared daggers at them. "If you don't stop talking about this subject right now, I swear to God I will castrate you right here and now." That shut them up real quick. They gulped simultaneously, looked at each other and then apologized. Penkala took pity on his friends and began a new conversation.

"I can't believe they told everyone. They must of overhead the conversation before I left. Those jerks," Chris muttered to herself.

She had managed to keep herself upright for about five minutes before she leaned against Joe. Joe looked a little shocked by the pressure on his side before lifting his arm to put it around her shoulders. She tucked herself against his side a little closer and allowed him to hold her there.

Joe kept half his attention on the conversations around him and the other half on the girl nestled against his side. He wouldn't tell anyone this, but he really missed her company. She was like a breath of fresh air out here and her smile was contagious. He didn't always get along well with others, but she got along with everyone. She was actually his first friend of the female race. Usually he just wanted a sexual relationship, but he was content to be with her just to talk to her. It made him feel good that she was willing to be with him and not expect sex. Back home and at the camps, before he was actually fighting, he was quite the smooth talker and never had to spend the night alone. It was difficult at first to be without female company, but he, just like all the other soldiers, acclimated. Even though Chris was a female, no one seriously considered her dating material. It wasn't that she was ugly. In fact, she was quite pretty, but she was a friend, a mother, and a younger sister to them all. To Joe, she was one of his best friends. That was the reason he yelled at the stupid fucker that tried to take her spot. He couldn't replace her, she could never be replaced.

Joe had drifted off in his thoughts when out of the corner of his eye he saw Chris lurch forward. He caught her right before she fell and all the conversations screeched to a halt. She was unconscious, but breathing. A few men took off to get Doc. Joe had lain her on the ground and the men waited, anxious. What was wrong with their nurse? Doc had come at a run, telling people to get out of his way. He checked her pulse and felt her forehead.

"What's wrong with her?" Joe asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Doc frowned a little. "It seems that she just passed out. There's no fever. She's exhausted, just look at 'er face. My guess is that she didn' get a lot of rest at the hospital and it's catchin' up to her." He looked at the crowd around her before looking back at the unconscious girl. He bent down next to her head and whispered into her ear, "Christine." Only those right next to him heard him, but the effect was spontaneous.

Chris shot up, her head clipping Gene's chin, which he gripped. "Who's hurt? Where are the wounded?" she asked immediately, all traces of exhaustion gone from her voice. She looked around and saw everyone staring down at her.

"Nothing's wrong," Gene told her, massaging his jaw. "You passed out. I told you to go get some sleep but ya didn't listen and you passed out."

"Oh" was all she could say. Some of the men chuckled before walking away. Most were thinking, how typical of their nurse, springing to life, worried about soldiers.

"Get some sleep," Gene ordered her sternly. He had started panicking when he saw Christine on the ground, everyone crowded around her. His relief after figuring she was just unconscious had quickly been replaced by annoyance that she had pushed herself to the point where here body was giving up. For all that she got on them for not taking care of themselves, she completely ignored her own needs.

"Yes, sir," she replied, sleep already lacing her voice. "But I wanna stay here." She was already swaying in her sitting position.

"I got ya," Joe said, holding on to her. "You can stay here," he assured her, "I'll just hold onto you." He picked her up and sat on the trunk in his usual spot, Chris cradled in his arms, on his lap.

"M'kay, thanks Joe," she mumbled before falling asleep. Gene wasn't entirely happy, but she was already asleep. He walked off as the conversations picked up where they left off. Occasionally someone would look over at the girl and shake their head at her carelessness. She had given everyone quite a scare, falling over like that.

A while later, Speirs was out walking about. He figured the rest of the boys had had a chance to talk to Christine and that they could go vegetable hunting. He was tired of eating that shit they called food without vegetables. Oh, no, he didn't miss Chris's company, just the food she was able to obtain, he told himself. When he got to the clearing though, that plan went out the window. He saw their nurse cradled in Liebgott's arms, sound asleep. He stalked over to the pair. "What happened?" he hissed.

Joe looked into his eyes, not at all intimidated by the fury that was masking the concern. "She was so exhausted she passed out, sir. She's just sleeping."

"Sleeping?" Speirs asked, calming down.

"Yeah, sleeping," Bill repeated. He walked over to Chris. "Watch this, sir. It's a pretty neat trick. The key is to move away as fast as possible, afterwards though." With that he bent down and whispered "Christine" into the nurse's ear and jerked back. She was wide awake in a second, trying to get to whoever was wounded. Bill was laughing and Joe was furious.

Chris looked up to see a Speirs staring straight at her. "Nothing's wrong, Chris. How are you?"

"A little tired, Ron." He could see the exhaustion clouding her eyes.

"How much sleep did you get at the hospital, Chris? Chris?" he asked again when she avoided his eyes and refused to answer. He gently lifted her chin after telling Joe to stop trying to punch Bill. Joe was pissed that Bill woke Chris up. Bill found it hilarious how she woke up to a whisper but not their yelling. Speirs repeated the question while forcing Chris to look at him.

"I didn't sleep," she finally answered, looking him straight in the eye.

"And why not?" he quietly questioned.

"I told you all that I was fine and didn't need the rest, so I didn't rest. Plus, there was too much to do. No time for rest." Speirs couldn't believe she was childish enough to refuse to rest because she had been told to, but the second part of her argument made sense.

"Okay, go back to sleep now, Chris," he ordered.

"Okay. Good night, Ron," she said before nodding off, head resting against Joe's chest.

"Good night," he said softly. He straightened then looked down at Joe. "Go take her to a foxhole. Let her sleep as long as possible." He turned to everyone else. "Let her be. She needs to sleep. Do not disturb her or else." Everyone knew that they would not like what happened if they disobeyed.

Joe tightened his grip on the sleeping girl and stood up. He readjusted his bundle before walking off to his foxhole. Alley was already back there and helped Joe cover Chris with a blanket. She slept through the whole journey and merely grabbed onto Joe's jacket when the blanket was put over her. Joe shifted her around so that he could sleep with her in his arms. Alley thought that it was sickeningly sweet how cute they looked, both asleep, Joe holding onto Chris like he would protect her from everything and Chris clutching Joe like he was a favorite blanket.

123

After checking on the rest of the men, Speirs made his way back to Winters and Nixon.

"How was everyone?" Winters asked.

"The men were fine. Our nurse, on the other hand, . . ." He didn't finish, merely shook his head.

"Chris?" Nix asked.

"She apparently refused to sleep at the hospital because she felt that she didn't need to be sent of the line to rest, so she passed out."

"She what?" Winters and Nixon exclaimed. How childish.

"I know. Rather idiotic."

"Well, she is still a child, I guess," Nix said.

"No, that was just stupid. Is she resting now?" Winters asked Speirs.

He nodded, "Yes, I told Liebgott to cover her up and let her sleep as long as she could and told the other men not to bother her, or else." The two didn't want to imagine what or else entailed.

"Maybe we shouldn't force her to leave anymore. I mean, it obviously didn't help her and the rest of the men were in terrible moods. Especially a certain vegetable hunter," Nix quickly put up his hands in the universal 'please, don't shoot me' gesture towards said vegetable hunter. "It's just a suggestion."

_Suggestions and criticisms welcome._


	12. Christmas

Joe slowly blinked his eyes, coming back to the world of the living. The biting cold wind on his face helped to speed up the process. He was sitting up so he knew that he was still stuck in a foxhole, but what was on top of him? He looked down and a smile graced his features. That's right. Chris was back and had passed out so he was holding onto her while she slept.

"Have a nice nap, sunshine?" Joe looked over at Alley who was smirking. Well, it looked like a smirk, but it was hard to tell; Alley was shivering so much, Joe wasn't sure.

"Yeah, actually I did," he replied and it was true. That was the best he had slept since coming out to this frozen wasteland. "What time is it?"

"Oh, just about lunch time. You were out for a few hours and for the half dozen visitors we've had."

"Visitors?"

Alley let out a quiet chuckle. "Yeah, visitors. It would seem that some people are worried about our nurse and decided to come check on her. They would wander over and stare at her for a bit before leaving. They were very quiet; probably too scared to wake her for fear of Speirs killing 'em. Let's see, we've had Lip, Skip, Penkala, Perco, Martin, Luz and Bull." He counted the names off his fingers.

"Huh," was all Joe said. Well, at least he had a chance to sleep in peace. He went back to watching Christine sleep against his chest. Her hair was falling in her face, the strands falling out of the ponytail it was in. Apparently she didn't get anyone to rebraid it for her while she was at the hospital. He gently brushed the strands off her face. She looked like a child when she was sleeping, so peaceful and innocent, the pain of the war erased from her face. It was the first time he had seen her sleep and he had never seen her look like a normal girl her age before.

Half an hour passed before Alley got up to get lunch with the promise of bringing some food back for Joe. Alley came back an hour later, annoyance rolling off him in waves. He shoved a tin at Joe before settling himself back down in the foxhole.

"The fuck's your problem?" Joe hissed at Alley.

"Next time you can go get the goddamn food and be bombarded with questions while I just sit here. They wouldn't stop grabbing my arms and holding on to me, trying to ask how she," here he jerked his head to the sleeping girl, "was doing. They all wanted to make sure she was still resting." Alley was piling food into his mouth grumbling about stupid, over-protective, worrisome ninnies.

Joe didn't blame the men for hounding Alley; he would have done the same. He ended up having to eat over Christine's head. It was difficult to maneuver his arms around her, but he got the hang of it.

Not long after they finished eating did another "stupid, over-protective, worrisome ninny" come to check on the nurse.

"How's she doing?" Babe whispered crouching down next to the foxhole.

"How's it look like she's doing?" Alley shot back, still annoyed.

"She's fine, Babe. She's still sleeping," Joe told him.

Babe nodded his head. "Good, she needs the rest."

"What do you care?" Joe asked. "You were ready to have her gone a while ago, after treating her like shit when that replacement died." Joe was pissed at how Babe had treated Chris after Julian's death and he could hold a grudge for a long time.

Babe's face grew dark but he did not let the fury raise his voice or color his words. "That was a mistake. I have already apologized and she has forgiven me. I'm worried about her. She's my friend, too, you know. You're not the only one who likes having her around. Remember that, Liebgott." Babe got up and walked away, making as little noise as possible as he walked away.

123

Babe had no idea why Joe had been so rude, but he shrugged it off as normal Joe behavior. He walked along to go sit in his foxhole and maybe get some rest. All traces of anger were replaced with shock when Babe suddenly found himself face to face with Lieutenant Speirs. "Oh, Lieutenant. Can I help you, sir?"

"Have you seen our nurse recently?" Speirs stared straight into Babe's eyes, preventing him from looking away.

Babe nodded. "Yes, sir. I just left her not five minutes ago." He was a little confused at the Lieutenant's question, but, after remembering the terrible mood Speirs had been in for the last week, promptly responded.

"Was she still sleeping?"

"Yes, sir. Sound asleep, sir."

"Good," was the only thing Speirs said before stalking away. Babe stared after him in shock, then shook his head and went off to find Gene. Doc was always good company.

123

Babe wasn't the first person Speirs had questioned. He was still worried about Chris, so if he thought someone had come from checking on her, he would stop them and ask them how she was doing. He tried to act nonchalant; he didn't really care, he was just doing his job as an officer and checking on those under his command, was all. His act hadn't fooled Winters and Nix, though.

He had heard Winters and Nix talking about their nurse, so Speirs casually strolled over to them and inquired about her status. Winters and Nix looked at each other with smiles on their faces before facing Speirs.

"Are you worried about her, Ron?" Winters asked.

"Of course not. I was merely curious. What good is a nurse if she is too exhausted to treat the wounded?" Speirs replied, face carefully blank.

"I think you are worried. It's ok to admit you like her. The men won't be any less frightened of you if you do. I mean, we all like her." Nix was amused by the whole thing. He was pleased that his comment seemed to throw Ron off balance for a second.

Ron couldn't believe that the two officers could see through him so easily, but he recovered quickly. "So how is she?" he repeated.

Winters took pity on the man and answered his question. "She's doing fine. She's still resting. There's no need to worry." Winters and Nix chuckled as they watched Ron stalk off. Speirs knew that she was fine; he wasn't worried. Even though he repeated these thoughts in his head, he continued to question the soldiers who had checked on Christine.

123

Gene finally made his way over to Liebgott and Alley's foxhole. He was still annoyed that Chris had worked herself to the point of exhaustion. She had really worried him, but he wanted to check up on her. He found her asleep in Joe's arms. Joe and Alley were having a hushed conversation, trying not to wake the sleeping girl.

"Hey, Doc," they greeted him.

"Hey. Has she been sleeping this whole time?" When they nodded he continued, "When it's time for dinner, get 'er some food, wake 'er and make 'er eat. She needs the food. Let her sleep again afterwards, though." Doc gazed at her peaceful face for a few moments before walking off to continue his rounds.

A little while later, Bill and Toye came to check up on their nurse. As soon as they reached the foxhole, there were gunshots. Joe bent over Chris, while the other three scrambled to cover the rest of her. The shots ended almost as quickly as they came. Alley and Toye rolled off to the side, rubbing their arms and backs where they were elbowed by someone in their little dog pile. Bill sat up and started telling Joe off while cradling his head. "Lieb, you idiot. That fucking hurt!"

"You're the fucking idiot, Gonorrhea! You hit me in the face with your damn helmet," Joe snarled. Apparently, they were so eager to protect their nurse that they slammed heads.

"Would you idiots get off me?" came the voice of Christine. She pushed against the two and was trying to get up. "I need to go check on everyone!"

"Whoa, there" and "Oh, no you don't" were the responses she was met with, along with being pushed back down.

"Yes, I do. I have to go check on everyone," she retorted, annoyed and once again trying to rise. They pushed her back down and Joe held onto her from behind. She didn't have a chance.

"You need to rest. You had passed out and you aren't done resting. Someone else can go check for any wounded. Go back to sleep."

Chris looked at the four men around her then sighed before leaning back against Joe's chest. "Fine, but I can't sleep with all of your bickering. Can you keep it down, please?"

Bill smiled. "Sure thing, kid. Sleep tight." He gave her a quick peck on the forehead and hopped out of the foxhole.

Toye scooted closer to Chris and whispered in his raspy voice, "Rest up, Chris. Get some sleep." He ruffled her hair affectionately before leaving. Chris was asleep before the pair disappeared from sight. Joe and Alley let out sighs and slumped against the wall of the foxhole. Some more men had floated by to check on the nurse, but they never stayed too long. Around dinner time, Alley grudgingly got up to fetch dinner for the three of them after much protesting. Eventually, Lieb had won when he pointed out that Chris would probably wake up if Joe got up to get food. When he saw Alley coming back, Joe gently shook Christine awake.

"What's going on?" she mumbled, voice laced with sleep.

"Food. You need to eat. Doc said to make sure you ate dinner or he'll have our hides," Alley answered. Both he and Joe were grinning at having the chance to witness their nurse act so groggily.

"M'kay. Thank you, Alley." She accepted her tray of food and slowly ate. Chris didn't feel like moving so Joe ended up having to eat around her again. When she had finished, she asked the boys why Bill and Toye had been in their foxhole earlier. Alley informed her of all the visits they had received while she had been asleep. Chris couldn't help but laugh at the story. It warmed her heart to have so many people care about her.

Chris was now awake and didn't want to go back to sleep. Despite the protests of the other two, she got up to walk around a bit. She didn't get too far however. Buck and Bill had seen her passing by and dragged her in with them. They both gave long winded reprimands to the nurse. Their speeches included phrases like: "Why can't you just do what you're told for once?" and "Were you always this stubborn?" and "Broads never listen" and other things of that nature. Chris listened patiently to their ranting but didn't feel too guilty. She had been resting all day and she just wanted to stretch her legs a bit.

They sat in silence for a long time. Finally Buck spoke up. He showed them a picture of him and his girlfriend.

"Good looking broad, Buck," Bill said after looking at the picture a bit.

"Yeah. She's through with me." Buck seemed pretty upset.

"Just in time for Christmas," Bill replied.

Chris couldn't stand to see Buck look so depressed. She didn't know what he was feeling, she had never been in love with someone before. "Well, she doesn't know what she's missing out on, Buck. You know what? She doesn't deserve you. You deserve someone better than her. Someone who will appreciate you." This didn't seem to offer Buck much comfort, but he tried to put on a wobbly smile. 'Apparently relationship advice is not my forte. Hey, at least I gave it a shot,' Chris thought. She squeezed his arm and offered him a reassuring smile before silence descended over them.

Chris was about to drift off to sleep when the shell came in. She was on her feet and out of the foxhole before either men had a chance to react. She followed the cry of "Medic" until she finally found her target. She got there just as Doc was finishing wrapping Harry's leg. She knelt down by Harry's head and held one of his hands. Doc barely glanced at her before focusing on doing his job. Harry looked up at her and she offered him a smile.

"Geez, Harry. I thought you liked me. If you didn't want to be around me, you could've just said something instead of getting yourself blown up and taken to a hospital."

Harry let out a weak laugh. "Heh. Sorry, Chris." The jeep had arrived and the men lifted Harry up and carried him over to the jeep. Chris watched the jeep drive away, her face void of all emotion. She hadn't been back for a full day and already someone was being taken to the hospital. Gotta love war.

Nix looked over at Chris. "Hey, come on. Let's go get some sleep. Tomorrow's Christmas after all. If you're awake, Santa won't come with any presents," he teased.

Chris's face lit up as she remembered her own little Santa bag filled with goodies. "You're right. Let's go." They walked over to where Winters was standing and the three headed back to the foxhole to sleep.

123

Christmas morning went without any incidents. The Germans decided to take the holiday off. Breakfast was not cheery. In fact, it was more depressing than normal. The men were homesick and the conversations dragged. It wasn't long before the men slinked off to their foxholes to reminisce about the holidays back in the states. Chris waited until everyone had gone back to their foxholes before she started playing the role of Santa's helper.

She was surprised her face didn't hurt from smiling. The cries of delight from the men warmed her heart. It had been a while since they'd had a smoke or, in some cases, chewed gum. She was so happy to see their faces light up with joy. They really did look like little kids on Christmas morning. She gratefully returned hugs and shared a few minutes of breathing in the noxious fumes with her boys. It was by far one of the happiest Christmas' she had experienced.

She had just about distributed all of the presents before she headed off to find Spina, Gene and Babe. She found Spina in his foxhole and give him his pack of smokes. She asked him if he had seen Gene come back from the hospital yet.

"Eh, I think I saw him pass through not too long ago." Spina was having trouble lighting his cigarette due to his shaking hands. Christine didn't offer to help him since she did not know how to work those damn things anyway. Christine sat with him another minute before heading out to see Babe, who was watching the line. She hoped that Gene might be with them as they had gotten close after Julian's death.

Chris was a little disappointed to find Babe alone the foxhole, but didn't show it. "Hey, Babe. Who's your favorite nurse?" She asked with a sly smile.

"Am I supposed to say you are?" he teased.

"How rude. Of course you are. You know what? Fine. I guess I don't have any presents for you then," she huffed and started to climb out of the foxhole.

"Now wait just a minute," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back in. "Did you say 'present'?" He slung his arm over her shoulder, preventing her from leaving.

She looked at him, mock annoyance covering her face. "Yes, I did," she sniffed, "but not for you apparently."

"Aw, Chris. You know I was jokin'. Course you're my favorite," he pleaded.

"Shouldn't you be watching the line?" she asked. He abruptly turned to face the line but was watching her out of the corner of his eye. "I know you were joking, so was I. Here you go. Merry Christmas, Babe." She handed him the pack of smokes.

"Holy shit! Are you kidding me? Where'd you get these?" He was very excited and nearly dropped the pack in his scramble to get a cigarette.

Chris merely chuckled. "I'll never tell." Chris watched him light his cigarette and caught sight of his hand. She grabbed his hand just as he finished taking his first drag.

"What are you doing?" He was trying to gently pull his hand away.

"Where'd you get this bandage?" she asked quietly, not looking up from the wound.

Babe looked between her face and his hand, confused. "Doc wrapped my hand up a few minutes before you got here. He pulled the bandage out of his pocket. Why?"

"No reason. He say where he was headed?"

"No. He just walked off in that direction," Babe said, pointing in a direction away from everyone else.

"Thanks, Babe."

"Thank you, Chris. Merry Christmas."

Chris wandered around the trees for half an hour before finding the medic. He was crouched down, back resting against a tree. He didn't even look up as she sat down next to him.

"What happened?" That was all she asked, but he knew exactly what she was referring to. She had seen the blue bandana that belonged to a certain nurse wrapped around Babe's hand.

Doc took a shaky breath and continued looking at the ground before starting. "When we were taking Harry to the hospital, the town was being bombed. As we were pulling up to the church, it got blasted. A few soldiers stumbled out. I looked inside. It was blown to pieces. No one could'a survived. All I could find was her bandana." He stopped there. Chris knew that the 'her' he referred to was Renee.

"I'm sorry. She loved that bandana. Said it was a memory of happier times." Gene finally looked at Christine after what she said next. "She loved you, too, you know. Talked about you all the time. 'The Cajun medic, Eugene. He looked like a lost angel when he came here looking for supplies.' She couldn't believe that you thought she had a gift. She did, I could see it, but she had no idea." Christine shook her head, remembering all the times she argued this point with Renee while she had worked in the hospital.

Gene was shocked. He had liked the nurse, a lot, but hadn't thought she returned his feelings. It made the hurt all the more painful knowing that she was now dead.

"Maybe it's for the best," Chris continued, looking at the sky. "Now she doesn't have to see soldiers die. Instead, she can be an angel, living in eternal peace."

Gene let out a small laugh. "An angel. She'd like that."

Chris finally looked over at her companion. The war had pushed him to the edge. He was ready to break. He hadn't chosen to come here and watch people get blown to pieces. He had been dealing with the other deaths, but Renee's death had been the final straw. It was too much and the pain was consuming the medic.

"It'll be ok, Gene." That was all she could say. She let him lean against her and she wrapped her arms around him and rocked him back and forth. Chris was sad that a girl who had just wanted to save lives and was heartbroken whenever a patient died had been killed. But Chris knew that nothing could be changed now. What was done, is done. But she hadn't had her heart broken like poor Gene. She couldn't begin to fathom his pain, but she knew a similar pain. She had, after all, lost her parents in a similar fashion. Chris refused to let herself tear up at the thought of this being her first Christmas without them. Christine hated war. It costs so much, especially in lives. And for what? What was being gained? Some pieces of land? No price could match a human life. No one could come away unscathed by war. There was death, then there were physical and emotional scars, all of which were permanent. And as Chris rocked Gene, she wondered just how she could minimize the damage done by those scars before this blasted war was finally over.

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	13. Breaking Point

_January 2, 1945_

Easy Company had been ordered to clear the woods around Foy. They had walked a ways before stopping to find their location on the map. There wasn't any flat surfaces around so Buck made Malarkey kneel down and they used his head as a table. That was how Chris found them: Lip, Bill, Skip, Penkala, and Buck standing around a kneeling Malarkey who had a map on his head. Chris walked up as Buck poked Malarkey in the head.

"Hey!" Malarkey protested, reaching up to rub his head.

"Shut up, Malark, or I'll nail it to your head," Buck threatened, not even looking at Malarkey.

Bill laughed before commenting that it wouldn't matter, his head was made of wood anyway. They all looked up when they saw Chris approach. Malarkey grinned, thinking that she had come to put an end to his abuse. He was in for an unpleasant surprise though.

Chris grinned sweetly before addressing Buck. "But Buck, if you nail it to his head, you'll poke a hole in it and let all the hot air out." Malarkey looked stunned while everyone else let out a laugh. Chris walked over and tapped Malarkey on the head, still grinning. "I'm just kidding. Malarkey, I know you're head isn't made out of wood or full of hot air. Buck, if you are going to use someone's head as a table, you could be a little nicer to them."

"Yeah, whatever you say, Chris. Come on boys, we've still got some walking to do." Everyone continued their march. Chris waited for Malarkey to get up and they walked together.

They'd walked for a ways until Lip and Buck ordered them to stop and start digging in. Chris had drifted over to where Bill was digging. She knew that he was missing Toye. On New Years' Eve, Toye had taken a hit in the arm and was sent to the hospital.

Bill had been carrying Joe's stuff around for him and Bill handed Chris a shovel after she offered to help him dig his foxhole. Chris had never done this kind of manual labor before, especially not in the middle of winter when the ground was rock hard. Chris stabbed the ground and the shovel barely scratched the surface. Chris tried again with the same amount of success. She wasn't strong enough to break the dirt on top. Bill had already made a good start and hadn't yet noticed her struggle. Christine grew frustrated and started wildly attacking the ground. Bill saw the flurry of movement and turned to watch the nurse. When he saw what was happening, he let out a laugh. What the hell was she doing? His laugh caught her attention and Chris paused in her attacks to look up at her companion. She was slightly out of breath, Bill noticed.

"What are you tryin' ta do, Chris? Haven't you ever dug a hole before?" he asked still chuckling.

She took a deep breath and straightened up before replying with as much dignity as she could muster. "No, I have not."

"You haven't?" he asked, surprised. She shook her head. "Well, you dig where I was. Just go down, don't worry about making it wider. I'll take over here." Chris nodded, hoping that she would have an easier time following Bill's instructions. Chris gave the deeper dirt a shot and was pleased to find that she could actually dig here. Bill had waited until she began digging before working on her old spot.

Not even fifteen minutes later, Chris was out of breath and her arms were burning. Her body wasn't used to such physical exertion and was telling her as much. She stopped for a small break and leaned on the shovel to watch Bill work for a moment. She watched him with envy; he was hardly panting and had dug twice as much as her in the same amount of time. She steeled herself and went back to digging. She moved maybe a foot of dirt before plopping down. Bill turned and was surprised to see the nurse breathing so heavily.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. I'm just . . . just taking . . . a breather," she gasped out. Bill shot her a look of disbelief before examining just how far she had gotten. He started laughing again, much to the annoyance of Christine.

"You know what, Chris? I got it. You go walk around or something," Bill said, waving her away.

"No. I can still help," she protested. She got up and made a feeble attempt to move some more dirt which brought another round of chuckles. "See?"

"Yeah, I can see that you're shitty at digging foxholes. I'll probably get it done faster by meself. Now git," he ordered, still laughing.

Chris realized it was true and left without another protest. She had passed Hoobler, who was walking around, showing off the Luger he had gotten. She patiently listened to his tale and praised his marksmanship.

"Hell, I bet I could've given Shifty a run for his money, Chris. You should've seen me," Hoobler bragged.

"Maybe, next time, Hoobs," she promised. "I'm just glad I'm not the enemy."

"You betchya," he agreed before heading off to go show some more people his prize.

Chris had walked a ways before she heard the call for a medic. She took off, puzzled. She hadn't seen a shell or heard heavy gunfire, but she ran nonetheless. Finally she spotted Lip, Buck and Perco surrounding a figure on the ground. It was Hoobler and he was bleeding from the leg.

"What happened?" she asked, trying to stem the bleeding.

"Shot himself in the leg," Buck replied.

Chris looked up in disbelief. "You think it was a German leg, Hoobs?" she asked the man. She was still trying to locate the artery that was torn. "God, I can't see a thing." Her hand was completely submerged in his leg and she still couldn't get it. She started talking to Hoobler, trying to keep him conscious. She didn't hear anything, barely her own voice. She knew that it was the femoral artery bleeding, but she just couldn't get to it.

Finally, sound returned. "Chris. Chris!" Chris looked at Buck, hearing him sharply call her name. She followed his gaze down to Hoobler's face. He was dead.

"Dieu fichu cela (God damn it)," was all she said. She sat back in the snow, looking dazed. She got up when the rest of the men started to stand and walk away. It was bad enough that they were plenty of deaths from the enemy, there didn't need to be any accidental suicides! There weren't enough soldiers out here as it was and they couldn't afford any mistakes and leaving a loaded gun in one's pants was a huge mistake.

Later that night, Christine was on one of her rounds when she spotted Babe sitting on a tree trunk, all by himself. "Hey, Babe. What's up?"

Babe hadn't heard her approach and was startled by her greeting. "Oh, hey Chris. Nothing much. It's just . . . Aw, forget it."

Chris frowned. "What? You can tell me, Babe." What wasn't he saying?

Babe looked unsure of himself before he spoke again. "Well, it's just that, earlier, I had told Bill that Buck kinda reminds me of Crazy Joe back in Philly. Not that I think Buck is crazy or anything, but he's different. Been a little off ever since he was shot in Holland. Bill told me that he was fine, just that being in a hospital can change a guy, so I was wondering what exactly could be in a hospital that'll change a guy like that."

He looked at Chris who was now sitting next to him. She was still frowning, unsure of how to explain what it can be like in a hospital and how just being in that place can scar a soldier. She wouldn't normally tell someone what it was like, ignorance was bliss after all, but he had asked.

"I'm not trying to scare you, Babe, but Bill's probably right. You think being on the front line and fighting the Germans is the scariest thing? The hospitals can be just as bad. On the line, things are so fast-paced, it's hard to think of anyone but yourself. If you see someone get wounded, you have two choices. You can continue fighting and share only a few moments with that wounded soldier or you stop and try to help that man until a medic gets there and takes over. While fighting, it is expected that people will get hurt and that you will see the dead and wounded. You see people get killed and you have a couple of nightmares for the rest of your life because you realize that could have been you. The cries of the wounded and the bodies of the dead will sit, for eternity, in the back of your mind. As a soldier still fighting, you either learn to deal with it or you break down completely. Anyone still fighting has learned to deal with it. Some find it easier than others.

Like I said, during the fight, it's fast and it's simple. It's completely different in a hospital. It's drawn out, painfully. That dying man you might have seen on the line is rushed to a hospital where there are dozens of other soldiers in his position. There are only a handful of nurses and doctors around, trying to save everyone. They might not get to that one man in time. They might get there and start trying everything they can to save his life and he will die anyway. There is really only so much one can do, medicine wise, while in a hospital here. There is a limited amount of supplies and doctors. There isn't enough time to sterilize everything. In war, you can't be too picky about the few things you actually get. Anyways, if that man was saved and stabilized, he would be experiencing great pain. Sometimes, we can't give them morphine for fear that it will lower their heart rate too much and kill them. The wounded stay, cramped together, piled on top of one another until they can be transferred to another hospital further away from the line. There are dozens of wounded in that hospital and they scream with pain all day and cry out in the night from their nightmares. Everyday, soldiers are told that they will be disabled: forever blind, with only one hand, unable to walk, all sorts of disabilities. They now live with a permanent, physical reminder of the war.

Can you even begin to imagine what it is like to be there, listening and seeing all of those soldiers? Hearing them beg for their mothers, for the pain to end? The stench of blood, infection and death, seeping into every available surface? On the line, there are distractions. There aren't any in a hospital." Chris looked over at Babe, who was shocked and even more pale than before. She gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. Don't worry, Babe. You'll be fine."

She got up, feeling horrible for telling Babe that, but Babe weakly fumbled with her arm, trying to keep her there. "Please, stay here a minute," he requested.

"Of course." She smiled at him and waited for him to collect his thoughts.

Babe couldn't believe what she had just told him. He understood the first part of what she said, about dealing with the death and stuff, but he had never thought about what it would be like in a hospital. He wouldn't have been able to fathom such pain and terror until she carefully explained it to him. He was letting it sink into his mind and didn't want to be alone.

Finally, Babe spoke again. "How did you do it?"

"Hm?"

"How did you do it?" he repeated, before clarifying. "How did you survive? You had told us that you worked in a war hospital for two years-"

"Two and half" she corrected.

"And now you are out here, smiling away. Sure, you get a little down everytime someone dies, but it seems that not even an hour later, you're smiling again! How? You asked to come out here. You just traded one pain for another! How do the other nurses handle it? How does anyone handle it? Why would anyone sign up to work in those damned places?"

"Whoa there, Babe. Too many questions," she stopped him to answer what he had already asked. "Let's see. We'll work backwards. You asked why anyone would sign up to be a nurse, well why would anyone sign up to be a soldier?"

Babe answered without hesitation. "To fight the Krauts. Help serve the country."

"Exactly. Nurses join for the exact same reason. Instead of firing a gun for the war, they fix those that were on the receiving end of a gun. No one tells you about what you will see when you sign up. Would you have signed up if they had described some of the deaths you have witnessed?"

Babe wasn't as quick to answer this time. "Um. I don't know," he replied, quietly, honestly.

Chris gave him another moment to think. "That takes care of the why, now the coping. They cope exactly the same way you do, Babe. You let yourself be distracted by the fighting and focus on surviving. You can grieve when there's peace and the war is over. If you don't think about it, it doesn't hurt as much, right?"

Babe nodded so Christine continued. "Now for me, I suppose. I'm the same as everyone else, Babe. I might have it a little easier since I grew up in a hospital and am used to some death. No, I didn't ever see someone torn to bits by a mortar, but I could handle death. It's the same here. I try to remember every face I see. I try to save their lives and I offer whatever comfort I can, but when a soldier is gone, either dead or stabilized and out of my care, I move on. I know that I cannot let the pain suffocate me. I save it for after the war. And the reason I smile," here she flashed him an exceptionally bright smile to emphasize her point, "is to help all of us. It makes you boys feel a little better, helps you forget the pain, thus making me happy. We all rely on each other and sometimes the cycle just needs a little boost. That's what I'm here for. To make sure everyone survives."

Babe still looked shocked. He knew that they all relied on their nurse to help them through dark times, but he never thought of what it must be like for her. He never thought of the pain she must be in, except for the one time Johnny yelled at him after Julian's death. That was the only time he ever truly thought about her feelings, but after what she just told him, he was amazed. She probably felt worse than they did. She had the memories of the hospital and then the added pain of being out here. She felt all of their pain, along with her own, but set it aside to help them. All of a sudden, he swept her up into a big hug.

"Thank you."

"For what? I've probably given you nightmares now. I should be apologizing."

"No, you haven't. Thank you. For everything."

"No problem, Babe. You should probably go get some sleep and try to forget what I said, ok?" Babe released her and headed back to his foxhole. Chris watched him go, feeling a little better now that she knew that he wasn't mad at her. She was afraid that she might of broken him and was relieved that he seemed no worse than before.

Chris walked off to go to her own foxhole to get some sleep.

123

_January 3, 1945_

"Hey, Nix, what do you have there?" Chris asked. She had been passing by and saw a soldier hand Nixon an envelope before driving away.

Nix opened the envelope and quickly scanned the contents and raised his eyebrows. "Apparently I have been chosen to get a thirty day furlough back to the States."

"Congratulations. When do you leave?"

Nix shook his head. "Actually, I think I want to talk to Dick about this first." He headed over to where Winters was shaving and Chris followed him.

Nixon explained the letter, but said that he didn't want to leave. Chris would have thought that he was a poor intelligence officer if he wasn't joking when he said "I grew up in the States. That's why I came to Europe. I just wish that they had told me a war was going on." Nix then told Winters that they could send someone else in his place. Chris took the towel Winters had set down and finished getting the shaving cream off his face as Nix outlined his idea. Winters blushed.

Nix stopped his explanation to ask, "And did you pick out his clothes for him, too, Mother?"

Chris blushed but replied, "No, little Nix. I only do that for you." They all shared a laugh as Nix finished explaining his plan.

Chris couldn't help but pity Lieutenant Peacock's naiveté. He honestly had no clue that the men wanted him to _stay_ in the States. He thought that they were just being nice. The poor man was oblivious to the soldiers' true feelings.

The jeep that had been sent to take Lieutenant Peacock away had brought a film crew. Colonel Sink had told Chris that she shouldn't be seen on film. She understood that her being seen on the line would cause quite a commotion back home. Many people were not open to the idea of women in the army; some even had trouble with women being nurses in army hospitals. Chris had told Sink that she would remain hidden and she did.

She was sitting next to Gene, eating, when she heard Skip call out. At first, she thought that the camera was coming this way and was prepared to run, but it turned out to be Joe Toye. He had escaped from the hospital to be back on the line. Christine saw him and sighed. Gene followed her line of sight and merely shook his head when he saw Toye. It was Gene who had sent him to the hospital for getting hit in the arm. The two medics finished their meals in silence. Gene walked away and Chris sat and watched Skip give a replacement, Webb, his special brand of introductions. After Skip introduced Lip, Chris headed over to Toye. Joe saw the nurse coming his way and gave her a smile, in the hopes that she wouldn't chew his ass too badly.

"Joseph Toye." He cringed with the use of his full name. "I don't know why I bother, Joe. Well, just let me check it at least once a day, ok?" she asked.

Joe let out a sigh of relief, then a chuckle before giving her a one-armed hug. She glared at him a moment. "I'm still mad at you."

"I know," he replied in his raspy voice. Chris then returned the hug, knowing that there was nothing she could do to get him to go back to the hospital.

Skip saw Chris and decided that it was time to scare the replacement. "Hey, Webb. That's our nurse, Christine."

Christine heard her name and turned. She saw Skip wearing his mischief making face and then saw Webb, so she put two and two together and waved in acknowledgement. Joe kept his arm around her and glared at Webb. Joe pulled Chris over to the replacement, who gulped when Toye approached.

"Listen here, buddy. Just because I got a bum arm doesn't mean I can't shoot your ass dead if you touch her. Got it?" he snarled. Chris kept her face blank. She was, as always, amused by her boys' antics, and embarrassed that they got so over-protective. Webb was shaking but managed a nod. Skip laughed at him, but this time, Chris came to the replacement's defense.

"Oh, shut up, Skip. I think I like Webb better than you right now."

Skip looked hurt. "How could you? What does he have that I don't?"

Chris smirked before replying. "A clean-shaven face. Both Webb and Joe. They're probably my favorite people right now." With that, Chris reached up to rub Joe's smooth face. Webb blushed while many of the men rubbed their faces self-consciously. Joe just laughed, satisfied to have scared the replacement shitless and walked Chris over to her spot next to Liebgott before going back to talk to Bill.

Not too much later did they have to up and move again. Though no more foxholes had to be dug, their cover needed to be reinforced. Chris, remembering how ungrateful Bill was with her help, decided to help Tab this time. The pair walked over to some fallen trees and Tab handed Chris an axe. She didn't tell him that she had never used an axe before, but it didn't look that hard. She conveniently forgot that she thought the same thing about digging a foxhole.

"Kay, Chris. Just cut away the thicker branches where they are growing from the trunk," Tab instructed. Chris found her target, gripped the axe with both hands, raised, swung, and . . . nearly cleaved her leg.

"Holy shit!" Tab exclaimed, running over to the girl. "Are you nuts?"

"No. I've just never used an axe before. Here, let me try again." She swung again and Tab had to duck. She actually hit the tree this time, about half a foot away from her intended target. Tab snatched the axe away from her.

"No chopping for you. You either break the branches with your hands or not at all. I'll chop them up, you drag them back to the foxhole, okay?" Tab asked. She had just about given him a heart attack. Chris was embarrassed by her lack of skill, but decided that her new tasks suited her better anyways.

"INCOMING! GET IN YOUR FOXHOLES!" Tab pushed Chris into the foxhole and jumped on top of her. They was a steady stream of shells coming in and Chris could only pray that they didn't hit anyone, though she knew that was unlikely. There was a break, but Tab refused to move. They could still hear Lip and Buck instructing everyone to stay down. The Germans were probably trying to lure them out to shell them some more.

"That's one thing I didn't miss in the hospital," Chris commented, trying to get comfortable with Tab still protectively over her.

"What?" he asked, voice muffled.

"You idiots always throwing yourselves on top of me whenever there was an attack," she replied.

"Sor-rrry," Tab said sarcastically. "We were only trying to protect you. But, please, just go walk around and get hit. We don't mind. We don't need a nurse."

"I know, I know," Chris conceded. "And I appreciate that you are looking after me, it's just that sometimes, I swear, with three of you boys on top of me, one of these days, you're going to crack a rib."

Tab might have been about to say something, but the second barrage came. It lasted just as long as the first, an eternity. Finally, the shelling stopped. For a second, all was quiet. Then there was a call for a medic. Tab got off Chris and let her sprint out. She found a soldier with part of a shell in his shoulder. She removed it and slapped a bandage on it and instructed the soldier he was with to get him a jeep to the hospital. She saw Malarkey running and asked him where he was going.

"Bill and I heard Joe in between the barrages so Bill went to go find him. I think I heard Buck yell for a medic." They both headed towards where Malarkey had heard Buck, dread filling them. Chris's heart nearly broke when they arrived. Gene was trying to put a bandage on the stump of Joe's leg. Bill had the bone blown out of his leg; all that was left was a quivering mass of flesh. She pushed Malarkey towards Gene, a silent command to help the medic while she went to Bill.

"The jeep's almost here. I need you to hang on, soldier," she instructed formally. She wasn't sure that she could hold it together, but god damn it, she would try.

"Hey, Chris. What's with this 'soldier' crap? I thought you liked me a bit better than that." Bill tried to laugh but yelped with pain instead. Chris took his hands and held them in her own. The two medics from the jeep came and Gene instructed them to take Bill first. "Hey, sweetheart, think you can give a man a peck on the cheek?"

Chris smiled, eyes watering. "Of course, Bill." She kissed him on the cheek and squeezed his hands one last time before he was loaded onto a stretcher. "Oh and Bill, don't you dare forget to write me." Bill chuckled as he was carried away.

Chris went to sit next to Joe. "What's a guy got to do to get killed around here?" he asked. Chris didn't say anything, she just stroked his hair. His face was contorted with pain, though he looked a little better after having a drag from a cigarette with Malarkey's help.

"Need a hand, Gene?" Chris asked.

"Naw. It's wrapped. He just needs a hospital," the medic replied, his accent slurring the words slightly.

"Damn it. Now Bill's going to beat me back to the States," Joe complained. "Hey, Chris. I want a kiss, too. How about two? Just so I can rub it in Guarno's face. Who cares if he gets home first if I get two kisses, right?" he said. Chris couldn't refuse him. She leaned over and kissed each cheek.

"You can tell him that you got an extra kiss because you shaved. Now that you got two kisses, you better not forget to write me, Joe, or I will be very upset," she ordered, trying to distract him from the pain. Joe was loaded onto a stretcher and taken away. Chris finally noticed Lip talking to Buck a ways off. It didn't look good.

123

Buck got sent off the line for "trench foot". Well, it's not like the military could say that the war simply broke him. Malarkey and Chris went down to the hospital to visit him. Chris got sidetracked, helping treat a critically wounded man that was being brought in while Malarkey went over to read Buck's letter to Buck.

Chris was walking over to Buck's cot when Malarkey appeared in front of her. "I tried," he said. "Buck's just . . . He's done. Maybe he'll talk to you." Chris could see the despair in Malarkey's eyes and walked over to Buck's cot.

He was facing away from her, so she leaned down to talk to him. "Hey, Buck. I'm sorry. I know it won't fix anything, but you have to move on." She could see anger forming on his face, but continued talking in a slow, soothing tone. "They are both alive and going home. They wouldn't want you to tear yourself apart. Heck, Bill would probably yell at you. The war is over for all three of you, but life moves on. This isn't the end." Buck had gone back to his comatose state, making Chris sigh.

Chris began stroking her hair and came to a decision. She got off the chair to sit by his head on the cot. "Buck. I know that you're in your own personal hell, but things get better. I'll tell you a secret. I've been to hell and back." This caught Buck's interest. His eyes shifted so that he could look at her without moving his head. Chris noted his interest and told him her story. "So that's how I ended up with Easy and you know what? I don't hate that it happened. If it wasn't for Layman, I never would have got to meet any of you and I wouldn't trade you boys for anything in the world."

Buck had rolled over so now his head was on her lap and he was looking up at her. She continued to stoke his hair and was holding one of his hands. His expression had gone from blank to shock and disgust, at Layman of course. Buck couldn't believe that something so horrible had happened to this young girl who had been a constant source of brightness in their lives for the better part of two months.

"Light comes from darkness, I know. Now promise me that you will try to live a life of happiness, ok?"

"I will." Those were the first words he had spoken in what seemed to be an eternity. Chris smiled. Telling her story had been tough, but it was the right thing to do.

"Promise that you will write me when you get home so that I know you are doing ok, please?" Chris begged. Buck nodded. Chris was content that Buck would be just fine with some time and left.

"How was he?" Malarkey asked after seeing her come out of the tent.

"I'll think he'll be just fine, Malarkey," she said, walking back to the jeep. Malarkey was stunned. How could she say that when Buck had looked like he would fall apart any minute? Malarkey just shook his head and followed her into the jeep. She probably wouldn't tell him anyway.

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_January 9, 1945_

Things were a little different for Chris. Three men whom she had grown to love as family over these last two months were gone. It wasn't anything new, really. She had been a nurse and now she was a field medic. She knew people died all the time, her parents had been killed, even, but it took her a while to shake off the loss of Bill, Joe, and Buck. Gene, of course, noticed, but didn't say anything. He knew that she would pull herself together in time and he was right. Within two days, Chris was as good as new.

Chris was about to fall asleep when the shells came. Doc and Spina were awake in seconds and covering her. When the mortars stopped falling the three medics sprinted off towards the cries of "Medic." It wasn't until all of the wounded had been loaded onto a jeep did Chris notice something was wrong. Lip was smoking with Luz.

"I thought you didn't smoke, Lip," Chris commented.

"I don't," he replied, taking another drag off the cigarette.

"Uh-huh. That looks like smoking to me."

George had been quiet through the exchange and finally spoke up. "A shell landed in our foxhole. It was a dud." Chris had a look of absolute terror with his first sentence that changed to one of shocked relief with his second. She also understood that Lip started smoking after that incident, and she couldn't blame him.

Chris's relief didn't last long when George added, "Yea, our shell was a dud, but the one that hit Muck and Penkala wasn't. They're gone."

Chris didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. It was just too much.

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Easy Company wasn't quite the same after that. They had lost some of their favorite people and there wasn't anything that could fill that void. Lip and Chris did their best to keep morale up, and succeeded, but the emptiness could still be felt. Chris made sure to spend extra time with Malarkey. He had lost his three best friends within the span of one week and that can be tough on anyone. She wanted to make sure that he survived this war.

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Finally after two months of waiting, it was time to take Foy. Item Company had attacked the far end of the town and Easy was supposed to take the front with Dog Company on standby. The only problem was that Easy couldn't make it to the town, they were getting pinned down by snipers. The Germans were about to pull out and escape. Something had to be done. Lieutenant Speirs took matters into his own hands. He ordered some buildings to be taken out with mortars. When the mortars started blasting the buildings, he ran. He ran straight through the town, through the Germans and their tanks and hooked up with I Company.

"Oh my God," Chris said, leaning against Winters. She had been ordered to wait back with Winters and Sink until the town was taken. She watched with fascinated horror as Speirs not only ran through the town to hook up with I Company, but as he ran back to Easy. His little suicide run worked perfectly though, for soon, American forces held the town of Foy.

Chris watched with a content smile as some pictures were being taken of the victorious soldiers when there was the crack of a rifle. One of the singing soldiers fell, dead. People ran for cover. Chris was about to run when she was shoved from behind. She looked up to see Nix laying on top of her, protecting her from the hidden sniper.

"Not you, too," she groaned, pushing him off of her.

"Yes, me, too," he retorted. He peeked around the corner, trying to locate the sniper. He was in a window across the street. Chris peered around Nix just in time to watch Lip run out into the open so that Shifty had a clear shot of the sniper. Chris swallowed a scream when she saw a bullet hit not a foot away from Lip. Everyone cheered when Shifty took out the sniper and Lip slumped against the wall in relief. Chris ran over to Lip.

"You okay there, Lip?" She laughed when she saw his smile and knelt in front of him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He was breathing hard and letting the adrenaline run its course.

Chris frowned and touched his bloody cheek. "Oh, that's nothing," he said.

Chris shook her head and reached into her medic bag. "I'll just clean it here." Not even three minutes later, all the blood was washed off. The cuts had already scabbed over so there was no need for a bandage. Chris stood up and offered Lip a hand. She pulled him up and clapped him on the shoulder before walking off to find more wounded.

The attack had been a success. There were only a handful of casualties and even less deaths. Perconte had been shot in the ass and Chris laughed when she saw Bull carrying him around. Everyone was talking about how lucky they had been. They knew that the casualty list would have been a lot longer if ex-Lieutenant Norman Dike had been leading Easy.

Sink saw the nurse wandering around and called her over. "Why don't you come with me to regiment and we'll talk about setting up a bank account in your name for your money."

"Yes, sir," Chris said, following him to the jeep. Winters and Nix followed the nurse and asked if they could go with her.

"Of course you boys can. You're needed back at regiment anyway," was Sink's reply. They all piled into the jeep and drove off, with only one witness.

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Everyone was grouping in two areas: wounded and non-wounded. The medics were with the wounded and preparing them to be shipped out to the hospital in Bastogne. Liebgott was looking for a certain nurse, the only nurse out there. He didn't see her talking with any of the men and he hadn't seen her treating any of the wounded. 'Where the hell is she?' he thought.

"Hey, Luz. You seen Chris?" Joe pulled on George's arm until George turned around to face him.

"No, I haven't, Lieb. Why?"

"I can't find her."

"Did you try looking where they were treating the injured. She is a nurse, after all."

"Of course I did! She wasn't there."

George could see that Joe was beginning to grow worried. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure she's around," he said reassuringly.

Joe stomped off and continued asking around. No one had seen the nurse recently. Bull had said that he had seen her over half an hour ago, but that was about it. No, she hadn't told him where she was going. Joe's concern for their nurse was increasing.

"Doc? Have you seen Chris?" Joe had wandered back to the wounded section of town and still couldn't find Chris.

Doc looked up at Joe. "No, I haven't seen her for a while."

Joe looked him in the eye and Doc could tell how desperate he was. "I can't find her. No one's seen her, no one knows where she is. She just disappeared!" Joe was starting to panic.

"Easy there, Joe. I'll help you look. I'm sure we'll find her," the Cajun reassured, though he too was beginning to worry. The two took off, searching all over town for their missing nurse.

George spotted Doc and Joe searching buildings. "Still haven't found Chris?" he asked.

"We can't find her." Now George was getting worried.

"Did you try asking Lip? He keeps track of stuff like that. Maybe he knows."

"Thanks," Doc said and the pair headed off to find the First Sergeant. George followed them. He wanted to know where the heck their nurse had gotten off to.

"What do you mean, boys?" Lip was shocked to hear that Chris had just disappeared. Where could she have gone? She wouldn't have gone to the hospital so she must be here.

Joe's concern was manifesting as anger. "She's gone, that's what we mean! Can't find her. No one has seen her for over an hour. We can't find her!"

"Calm down, Joe. We'll figure this out." Lip was thinking. "Ok. We'll gather everyone and start looking in groups. We'll search every building and then the surrounding area. She wouldn't have left."

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Speirs had been watching the prisoners when another officer came to relieve him. He was walking through the town and frowned when he noticed how empty it was. Where had everyone gone? He got to the front of the town and saw all of Easy congregated in one huge mass. Speirs walked up to the head of the gathering where Lipton was. "What is going on here, First Sergeant?"

Lip looked up in surprise at Speirs. He hadn't heard him approach. "Chris's gone, sir. Disappeared. We are organizing a search party to go find her, sir," he explained.

"There's no need for that," Speirs said. He thought it was pretty funny that they were getting worried and hadn't even bothered to ask him. He always tried to keep an eye on their nurse and did the best he could to know her whereabouts. If they had asked him from the beginning he could have saved them from quite a bit of trouble.

Joe was watching the conversation with annoyance. Didn't Speirs realize he was holding up the search?

"What would you say if I told you that I knew where she was?" By now everyone was listening to the conversation.

Joe stepped forward. "You know where she is? Well, where is she?"

Speirs shifted his gaze to Joe. "Regiment," he said simply.

"Regiment?" Lip repeated.

"Yes, she left with Colonel Sink to take care of some monetary issues. She will be back shortly."

Joe exploded. "Why didn't she fucking tell us? We thought she was fucking lost or something!"

"Joe," Lip warned. Joe continued to mutter angrily. Everyone else looked relieved. She would come back, that's all that matters.

Christine returned to Foy within the hour. Winters and Nix walked with her to where the majority of the men were milling about. Lip was the first to greet them.

"Lipton. Where's Speirs? Easy's moving out," Winters said.

"He's right over there, sir. I'll get him in a second, sir," he told Winters before looking at Chris. "Good to have you back. You caused quite a commotion."

"I what?" she asked, surprised.

Lip laughed. "Go talk to Doc," was his only reply. Chris looked at Nix who shrugged. Chris went over to where she could see Doc leaning against a building.

He raised an arm in greeting. "There you are."

"Here I am," she said, sitting next to him.

He turned to look at her. "Maybe next time who feel like leavin', you can tell someone. We were worried."

Chris felt guilty. She hadn't thought about informing someone of her departure. Gene continued, "In fact, we had started ta organize a search party for ya. Luckily, Lieutenant Speirs knew where you went and told us before we went too far."

"I'm really sorry, Gene. Colonel Sink took me to regiment to help me set up a bank account for my money. I didn't mean to worry anyone."

Gene smiled. "It's ok. We're not mad or nothin'. Just give us a heads-up when you leave next time though."

"How'd you even know I was gone?" she asked. "I wasn't away for too long."

"Joe was looking for ya and grew mighty frantic when no one had seen you. He went around searchin' da whole place for ya and askin' everyone if they knew where you were. I thought he was gonna to give himself a heart attack." Gene chuckled at the memory.

"Oh. I'll go let him know that I'm back. Bye, Gene." Gene watched her disappear into the crowd of soldiers, relieved that she came back. They were all a little scared that she might decide that she was sick of all this and go home. Gene didn't want to think about the change her leaving would bring for the company, much less himself.

"Joooeee!" Chris called trying to find the man. Most of the soldiers stopped her to complain about how she worried them and that she always causes problems and what not. After they welcomed her back they would point her in the direction of the sulking Jew.

"Finally, I found you. Hi, Joe. I'm back," she said when she finally found him smoking against a building, far away from everyone else.

"Yeah." He continued smoking, not looking at her.

"Um, I'm sorry I worried you," Chris said to the ground. It seemed warmer than the man in front of her.

Joe whirled around and threw his cigarette on the ground. "Jesus fucking Christ, Chris! You can't just take off, scare us all, then come back like nothing's wrong! I- we were worried sick about you! We had no fucking clue as to where the hell you went. You didn't tell us you were going. Lieutenant Speirs finally came over and told us that you had taken off to regiment with Colonel Sink. What the fuck were we supposed to think?" Joe had come close to admitting that he had been worried and hoped she wouldn't have noticed. He had been counting the minutes since he had found out that Speirs knew where she was until her arrival. Seeing her just saunter up to him pissed him off even more. Doesn't she realize how worried they were? How worried he was?

Chris felt like dying. She really hadn't meant to worry anyone and no one else had gone off on her like that. The rational part of her brain knew that Joe always took things to the extreme and she shouldn't be worried, but it hurt to have him yell at her like that. Never before had someone really yelled at her. At home, she rarely got into trouble and in the hospitals, yelling came from stress and it wasn't anything personal. Chris was too shocked to think that there was a possibility that Joe only yelled because of his obvious concern and it really wasn't personal. She had no idea what to feel, but broken and regret seemed to sum up the whole of her emotions. She turned around and walked away, looking at the ground.

"Aw shit."

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	14. Losing You

"Aw shit," Joe muttered. What had he done? He could only watch as Chris started running away from him, rooted to the spot, unable to go after her and tell her how sorry he was. That he was only worried that he had lost the best friend he ever had. The hurt look on her face, he can't bear to remember it and watching her retreating form wrenched his heart. The only people who had even a chance of understanding him were the people whom he had shared foxholes with these last two months. Only a handful of those few actually accepted him and put up with his shit and he just pushed one away.

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Chris ran back to where she had left Gene. She slowed down as soon as she saw him. She paused to take a deep breath and hide the tears that wanted to fall before slowly walking up to him.

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Gene was surprised to see Chris come back alone; he was sure that Joe wouldn't let her out of his sight. He then noticed her shaky breaths and distraught expression. Quickly rising, he asked, "What's wrong, Chris?"

"I don't know what to do, Gene." She shook her head, but didn't offer any further explanation.

"What happened? What do you need to do?" the medic probed, trying to find what was distressing the nurse.

"Joe yelled at me. He was so angry, he obviously never wants to see me again. I just . . . Being with Easy is the first time I have ever really had anyone to relate to. You guys are my friends, my first friends, my best friends and it hurts that I just lost one. What would I do without any of you? Especially you and Joe?" The tears were starting to surface again, but Chris refused to let them fall.

Gene was dumbfounded. He wasn't surprised to hear that Joe had yelled. He was always so emotional and it figures that he masked his concern with anger, but Gene had never expected Chris to react the way she did, over almost dramatically. The ridiculousness of what she said about Joe never wanting to see her would have made him laugh if she didn't look like that. She looked like what she was: a young girl, socially inexperienced, upset by the anger of a friend. Gene lightly held her shoulders before soothingly speaking, "He's not mad at you, Chris. He was just worried. Ya didn't lose him."

Before Gene could say anymore, he was interrupted by Lip. "Hey, Doc, I need you over here, pal."

Gene didn't want to leave Chris alone and looked around, unsure. He spotted Speirs and came up with a plan. "Look, Chris, I gotta go, but why don't you go walk with Lieutenant Speirs, ok?" Chris nodded but didn't move until Gene pushed her.

"Merci, Gene," Chris said before she walked away, feeling a little better now that she had talked to the Cajun.

Gene smiled before heading over to meet with First Sergeant Lipton.

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Of course Speirs noticed that he was being followed as soon as the nurse started following him, but he didn't say anything. He was observing her out of the corner of his eye, curious as to the reason behind her silence. He was just wandering about, waiting for the men to gather round so he didn't mind having her around, but he wished that she would say something, or at least walk next to him. He spoke without turning around. "You can walk beside me, Chris. I don't bite," he teased, hoping to see her lose her solemn expression.

She didn't say anything so, he slowed down until he was next to her. "What's the problem, nurse?"

"I don't want to talk about it, sir," she replied stiffly.

"Fine," Speirs said. "We're moving out. We've been ordered to take Noville tomorrow."

Chris looked at him, surprised. The men seemed to think that they would be getting a break now that they successfully took Foy. Oh, they weren't going to be happy.

"Why don't you stay with me when I tell them that we have to head out and you can tell me what's the matter as we walk," he suggested.

Chris merely shrugged.

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Speirs had informed the men of their new orders and had given them half an hour to get ready to leave. They were now currently marching to Noville to wait for orders to attack. Chris had obediently followed Speirs around, unapproached by anyone, which she was grateful for. She didn't think that she could face any of the guys right now. Joe, especially. If she caught his gaze, she would quickly turn his head in the hopes that he wouldn't notice her.

Chris was unaware that Speirs had observed Chris trying to remain out of sight of the rest of the men and decided to help her out a bit. He would glare at anyone who even looked in her direction, effectively warning off anyone who thought of approaching. This allowed them to walk, undisturbed, and allowed Chris to finally tell Speirs what was upsetting her.

"Joe hates me, Ron," she said, looking at the ground.

Speirs took a moment to comprehend that ridiculous statement. "Liebgott does not hate you, Christine. How did you come up with that idea?"

Chris looked crestfallen while she explained. "He yelled at me when I saw him. He said that I caused a lot of trouble when I left and implied that I was selfish and didn't care about you guys. Of course I care! You boys are my whole world! I didn't mean to cause any problems when I left," she finished softly.

Speirs began to understand. Joe had hid his concern with anger and Chris had to be the _only_ person not able to see the true emotion. Their nurse was usually pretty good at reading people so she must have been pretty rattled to believe the mask Joe presented. "Soldiers can only function as they are supposed to after they realize that they are already dead, right?"

Chris nodded, having heard him give this lecture to a scared private. Speirs continued, "The next thing that soldiers realize is that everyone else is the same, already dead. That's why no one likes the replacements; the men get attached to them only to see them get killed before long. The trick is not to let anyone get close to you. Now for most of these men, that's impossible. They need friends, they need each other, but most of all, they need you. You provide a sense of security and comfort. You are the flame that draws the moths and none of these men want to lose that flame. When they realized that you disappeared, they were scared. Joe most of all. They didn't calm down until I told them that I knew where you went and that you were all right. Every man reacts differently to being scared. Remember that."

Speirs finished his lecture and gave her time to think about what he just said. 'Liebgott could never hate her,' Speirs thought as he remembered what happened when he broke up the search party. Only someone who truly cared for the nurse would have the balls to face Speirs.

Before long, they arrived just outside Noville and were bunking down for the night. Knowing that he was needed elsewhere, Speirs left Chris to continue thinking about the friend that she 'lost'. Once Speirs was out of sight, Gene approached.

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Gene had carefully been watching Christine ever since her saw her with Speirs when the boys were being told that they had more towns to take from the Germans. She looked upset when they left town and when they were walking, but after he saw Speirs give what appeared to be a speech, he noticed that her depression turned to thoughtfulness and reflection. He patiently waited until Speirs had left before darting over to the nurse.

"Ready to get set up for the night?" he casually asked in his slow, Southern drawl.

Chris nodded and they set up for the night. They worked in silence. Gene knew that she would talk to him when she was ready and didn't push her.

123

While helping Gene set up for the night, Chris couldn't help but reflect on why the soft-spoken medic was one of her favorite people. He pulled her away before anyone else could, but then left her to her thoughts. He always seemed to know what someone needed and would do his best to help everyone. He was her confidant, someone she trusted completely and could tell anything to without fear of being judged.

The thoughts of Gene turned into thoughts of Joe. She had been thinking about what Ron had told her and was starting to wonder if she had overreacted. She did her best to keep her emotions in check during the war, but she had never had real friends before. The thought of losing one of them terrified her, especially one that she had grown so close to. He was one of the men who had rescued her and had always looked after her. He never failed to provide a side to cuddle into or a comment to make her laugh. Chris knew that he had a temper and could blow up at almost anything. Ron had said that everyone reacted differently to fear and maybe Joe got mad when he was scared. It would make sense.

But maybe he hadn't been worried. Maybe he had been serious. Maybe he really thought that she was a nuisance that needed round the clock care. Perhaps he didn't really think of her as a friend, just someone who had the ability to help others. Perhaps he felt obligated to be nice to her because he knew her dirty secret. What if he didn't want her around?

Chris was slowly falling apart again when Popeye walked up.

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Popeye was sitting around, smoking with the rest of the men, relaxing in the front of Foy. They had finally taken the town and were given some down time. Lip was shepherding everyone to the front of town; apparently they were going to be given some news, hopefully good news. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Liebgott approach. He didn't look so good.

"Hey, Lieb. What's wrong? You look like a bomb went off." Popeye was examining his friend while he waited for an answer.

Joe looked dazed as he walked up but then snapped back to reality to brush Popeye off. "Nothing, Popeye. Leave me alone."

Joe started to walk away, looking lost as Popeye called out to him, "Lieb, wait a minute." Joe continued walking and Popeye swore softly.

Popeye kept an eye on his friend after that. Joe didn't react when they were told that they had more towns to attack. Everyone else was groaning and looking down, but not Joe. He looked almost mournful, but what could he be mourning? They were alive and Chris had safely returned so there wasn't too much to complain about, right?

Popeye's concern increased during the march to Noville. Joe hadn't said a word to anyone. Occasionally he would look around, like he was trying to spot something, but he never seemed to find it judging by the pained look on his face. Popeye didn't know what to do and Joe refused to talk to him.

"Sergeant?" Popeye sought out Lip when they stopped in the hopes of the finding someone to snap Joe out out of his funk.

"Yeah, boy?"

Popeye cleared his throat. "I, uh, I think there's something wrong with Liebgott, sir. Maybe you could help him out, sir."

"Um, sure, Pop. Where is he?'

Popeye pointed out Joe's general direction. "He's over that way, 'bout fifty yards."

"Thanks, Pop." Lip clapped Popeye on the shoulder before walking over to find the troubled soldier.

"Joe." Lip waited for a response. When Liebgott looked up at him he continued, "What's on your mind? You seem distracted."

"It's nothin', sir. I'm fine." Joe went back to staring at the ground and Lip could see that Joe was sinking back into his own little world.

"Joe, it's not nothing. You are distracted. If you fight this way tomorrow, you'll get killed. What's wrong?" Lip talked quietly, but with force, trying to get Joe' attention.

Joe looked up to Lip's concerned face. "I screwed up."

"How?"

Joe sighed before explaining. "Chris had come to talk to me and I snapped. I yelled at her and when she walked away, I didn't even try to stop her. I hadn't meant to yell at her, I just . . . And now she hates me. She won't even look at me. I screwed up everything."

Lip's heart filled with sympathy. Joe obviously had trouble talking to girls and had upset Chris which only hurt him even more. Hell, he couldn't even admit that he was worried. "You didn't screw everything up, Joe. This is Chris we're talking about. Our nurse isn't capable of hating anyone, I believe, and certainly not you. She loves everyone, even the replacements but you and Doc are her favorite people in the company. Just go talk to her. Apologize."

Joe just stared at Lip. Joe does not apologize. But maybe, for their nurse, he might just give it a try. But how could he apologize if she wouldn't talk to him? Anyways, she's been stuck to Speirs and he would probably shoot anyone who got near the nurse if she was upset.

Lip could see Joe contemplating the idea. "Just go apologize. Everything will be fine. Go talk to her," he urged. Hopefully making up with Chris will get him to remember that he was fighting a war and couldn't afford to be distracted. Lip got up and walked away, hoping Joe would clear this up, fast.

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Popeye had been nearby, listening to the conversation. It all made sense now. The only person that could affect Joe so deeply would be their bright, little nurse. Popeye could only shake his head when he heard that his friend had yelled at her. It only proved that Liebgott did not have many friends of the female persuasion. But, hey. Now he knew what the problem was and he could help fix it.

Popeye wandered around camp, trying to find their nurse. What luck! She wasn't with the Lieutenant. Popeye had no idea what he would have done if she was still around Speirs. Doc was the only one around and he would let Popeye take the nurse away, no problem.

Popeye sauntered up to the pair and greeted them. "Hello, Chris. Doc."

"Hey," was the only reply he got from the medic.

"Hello, Popeye. Is something wrong?" Chris had seemed distracted when he approached, but now she was in nurse-mode and totally focused. Popeye grinned at the sudden change.

"Well, I could use your help. Can you come with me a minute, please?" he asked.

"Sure thing, Popeye." Chris was not one to deny her boys much. Chris gave a wave to Gene before following Popeye. He led them through the maze-like camp. Finally he stopped.

Popeye turned to the nurse. "You just wait here a minute. Come to me when I wave to you, ok?" Chris nodded, unsure of what was going on.

Popeye walked off a little bit to where Liebgott was standing. "Hey, Joe. I heard you had a little job to do and I decided to help ya. I even brought a friend. Chris, come here."

Joe had been confused while Popeye was talking but everything fell into place when he saw Chris. Chris slowly walked over to where the pair was standing and awkwardly stopped a few feet away. Joe could only stare at her, all of his doubts and fears returning.

Popeye saw that they needed some help. "I think Joe had something to say to ya, Chris."

Joe shot Popeye a glare before focusing on Christine once again. "Um, I'm, uh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Chris shifted her weight from foot to foot and was looking at the ground. Popeye spoke up, trying to help his buddy. "That's a good start, Joe. Keep it up."

Joe couldn't stand the fact the Chris refused to look at him. "Chris, I'm sorry. Truly sorry. It's just that . . ."

"Just that . . ." Popeye echoed.

"I was . . . I mean, you were . . ." Joe fumbled, each second adding to the pressure crushing his heart.

"What my word-challenged friend is trying to say is that he was very worried about you," Popeye added helpfully.

Chris finally looked up, hopeful. "Worried?"

Joe felt the pain in his chest dissipating, but he began to blush and turned his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I guess. You had just disappeared without a word and no one could find you. Finally, the Lieutenant told us he saw you drive off with Colonel Sink. I'm sorry for yelling at you. Can you please forgive me?" He looked over at her, afraid to see rejection.

Rejection was the last thing on Chris's mind. Her face was colored with relief and joy. She had just overreacted. She smiled at Joe before walking over to him. "Of course, you're my best friend."

Joe's heart twinged, but he wasn't sure what the cause was, so he ignored it. Instead, he roughly pulled Chris to his side and held her there.

Chris wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his jacket. She had been so worried that she had lost him, that she never even had him to begin with, and was thrilled to hear that her doubts held no value.

"Ain't that the cutest damned thing I've ever seen," Popeye drawled.

"Piss off," Joe growled at him, provoking a laugh from Popeye.

Chris pulled back from him and glared at him. "Don't be so rude. If not for him, I wouldn't be here."

She started to pull away to walk off, but Joe grabbed her arm. "No you don't. You just got here and I don't want you disappearing on me again."

This caused Chris to blush and Popeye and Joe to laugh at her. Chris stayed with Joe while Popeye went off to tell Lip that everything was fine.

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Gene had been wondering where Christine was and finally went to look for her. He was an only child and he was envious of the other boys growing up. All of his friends seemed to have younger siblings that they protected. His friends always had a companion, one to fight with, one to play with, one to teach, one to watch over. Gene had always wanted a younger sister and now that he had found Chris, his wish had come true. She understood him, like only another medic could and had quickly nestled into his heart. She had such a bright personality that one couldn't help but like her and Gene was no exception. He found himself constantly checking on her or thinking of her. Like Winters and Martin, he tried his best to keep her out of danger and enjoyed playing the role of protector. Especially with the knowledge of her dark history, Gene swore to himself that he would watch over this bright young girl as much as possible. She was a wonderful friend and he didn't want anything else to happen to her.

Reflecting on his friend/adopted sister had distracted Gene and so he found himself suddenly looking at Christine. She was sitting next to Joe and they seemed to merely be enjoying each other's company. Gene hadn't known what to think when Chris came to him earlier, thinking that the other soldier hated her. The idea was preposterous, but Gene tried his best to combat her fears. He was glad things got straightened out.

Chris heard Gene approached. "Hey, Gene." Liebgott merely nodded his head.

"It's gettin' late. You should probably go to sleep," the medic told the nurse, not even looking at her companion.

"Sure thing, Gene." She got up before turning around to look at Joe. "You need to get some sleep, too. Good night, Joe."

Joe smiled up at her. "Night, Chris, Doc."

Chris and Doc walked back to where they were set up and were asleep in moments. This day had worn them both out, so now they fell into the deepest sleep they've had since they've met.

123

_Rachamps, Belgium_

Easy Company finally had a chance to rest. They had taken Noville and Rachamps and were currently sitting in a convent, listening to the most beautiful sound. The nuns had kindly agreed to let the soldiers stay the night and had even brought their choir in to sing. Chris had to agree with Lip: the music was heavenly.

Thankfully, there hadn't been any fatalities, but there were a good many wounded. There wasn't any place nearby to evacuate the wounded, so they were in a building nearby. It turns out that some of the nuns had nursing experience. Who knew? The medics didn't care; they were just glad for the extra help.

Chris looked around the room, content. All of the men were relaxing and enjoying their time out of the snow. Some of them were playing cards, some were mesmerized by the choir, others were sleeping. A few men were even smoking! Chris guessed that the nuns had decided to bite their tongues for the night.

She was trying to keep an eye on Gene and Malarkey. The war had taken its toll on all of them, but those two seemed to have been hit the hardest. Gene was sitting next to Perconte, who was lying on a stretcher due to his injury, and staring at the choir. Chris said a quick prayer. She wished that Renee was resting in eternal peace and that Gene could survive this war and make it back home to find a girl who would love him with all her heart. He deserved nothing less. Chris then scanned the room looking for Malarkey. He, too, was sitting quietly, enjoying the peace. He had changed after losing his best friends but seemed to realize that he needed to pull himself together to get home.

Chris had the bench all to herself, except for a certain Lieutenant. Speirs had found an empty bench and quickly claimed it. He didn't want any company but allowed the quiet nurse to sit a little ways away from him. They both were lost in their own worlds, enjoying the fact that they would not have to spend the night out in the snow. It was late and before long, Chris began nodding off. Without realizing it, she slumped sideways and was lying on the bench. She had barely made a noise so Speirs was the only one who noticed her change in position.

123

Speirs looked down at the sleeping nurse. It was rather amusing that she had merely fallen over to sleep, but it didn't look comfortable. None of them had recently had a comfortable place to sleep, but tonight they were being spoiled. She shouldn't be sleeping like that on a bench. Speirs silently slid the rest of the way over to her. He gingerly picked up her head and rested it on her thigh. His leg made a better pillow than the wood, surely.

A nervous looking private entered the convent. He meekly asked the nearest soldier where Lieutenant Speirs was and headed over to find the man. Speirs looked up when he saw the soldier approach.

"Um, sir,-" The private was cut off.

"Shh," Speirs said, holding a finger to his lips and gesturing to the sleeping girl. "What do you want?"

The runner gulped. "Um, I was sent from Regiment. They want your reports within an hour, sir."

Speirs nodded. He figured that the men back at Regiment would want that report soon. Speirs noticed that the private was staring at him and Christine. "Is there anything else?" he asked. The private shook his head. "Well then, you can go now." It wasn't a suggestion. It was an order. The runner nodded and scurried out of the convent.

123

Lip was about to start working on a tally of remaining soldiers when he had seen the runner scramble out of the convent. He apparently had a run-in with Lieutenant Speirs. Lip finished the tally before heading over to where Speirs was sitting. The surprise showed on his face when he found Chris asleep with her head on Speirs's thigh. His other leg was bent at the knee and his foot was resting on the bench, allowing Speirs to use his leg as a flat surface to write on. Speirs was working on something and Lip patiently waited for him to finish.

"I need to get this to Regiment before they disappear," Speirs muttered.

'Then why don't you go give it to them?' Lip thought before realizing his dilemma. Oh. That's right. Christine. "I could sit there for you, sir," he offered.

"Thank you, First Sergeant," Speirs said before gently lifting Christine's head and sliding out from underneath her. Lip didn't think that Speirs could be so gentle. Lip sat in Speirs' old spot and Speirs softly set the girl's head down before stepping back. Speirs took one last look at the nurse before heading off, leaving Lip to relax as he watched over Chris.

"Ngh," Chris groggily moaned. She remembered feeling tired and listening to the beautiful singing, but nothing after that. She woke up feeling Speirs lift her head.

Chris started to sit up before Lip gently but firmly pushed her head back down. "Easy there, Chris. The Lieutenant just needs to deliver some paperwork. You go back to sleep now," he ordered.

"M'kay. Thanks, Lip." She was out like a light two seconds later.

Not long after the Lieutenant had left, Liebgott walked over to Lipton. "How is she?"

Lip hadn't noticed Liebgott's approach. "She's doin' fine, Joe. She's sleeping."

"Excuse me?" Both men turned, startled to see a flustered nun. The nuns had been walking around the room, checking on all of the soldiers. This one had been nearby and heard the two men talking about a female. She looked down and saw a sleeping girl resting her head against one man's leg.

Lip spoke up before Joe could shoot his mouth off and upset the nun. "Yes?"

"I'm terribly sorry, but we cannot allow her," she pointed at Christine's resting form, "to stay the rest of the night in here."

"Look here, Sister, she's been with us on the line. Nothin's happened to her. She stays here with us," Joe argued, remembering to keep his voice low so as not to wake Chris.

The nun merely shook her head. "I'm sorry but we cannot permit her to sleep in a room full of men. This is a convent. If you like, we have a spare bed in one of the rooms and she may spend the night there," the nun offered.

"That'll be perfect. Thank you," Lip said.

Lip started to rise before Joe stopped him. "It's ok, Sarge. I'll take her." Joe picked up Chris up and followed the nun.

Along the way, Chris woke up. "Joe? Where we going?"

Joe continued to look at the nun as he replied. "I'm putting you to bed. The nuns don't want you sleepin' out there with us wild animals."

"A bed? But I can't. It wouldn't be fair if you boys didn't get beds, too," she protested.

Joe had to tighten his grip on the girl to keep from dropping her wriggling form. "It is too fair. Now shut up and sleep," he ordered. Chris did as she was bid and held onto his jacket. They finally reached the room and the nun opened the door. There were some other nuns already in the beds and gasped when they saw the soldier enter the room. The other nun quickly explained the situation and the rest were appeased, though they followed Joe's every movement.

The nun quickly pulled the sheets back and Joe carefully set Chris down and pried her fingers off his jacket before pulling the covers up. "Good night, Chris," Joe whispered. She was almost asleep but managed to give him a small smile. Joe leaned down, brushed the hair out of her face and pressed his lips to her forehead. He straightened up and gazed at the sleeping girl a moment longer before heading back out with the rest of the guys.

123

Right before dawn, as was routine, Chris woke up, but that's about the only thing that was routine. She found that she was in a bed, a real bed! and surrounded by people that were not her soldiers. She didn't allow herself to panic though. She tried to remember what happened last night and only came up with blurry images. She remembered hearing pretty voices and feeling tired. Next, she remembered someone lifting her head, then looking up to see Lip. Finally, she recalled Joe carrying her somewhere. Dimly, she could recall the feel of covers being pulled over her and chapped lips against her forehead. 'That's it. I feel asleep and eventually got taken to this room. These people must be some of the nuns," Chris thought.

Ever so quietly, as not to disturb the generous and sleeping nuns, Chris slipped out of bed and the room. She didn't have any clue as to where she was and where her men were staying. She decided to head off in one direction and hope that she found a familiar face.

Chris eventually found herself in front of a door. She went through the door and ended up outside. She looked around and found the place where the wounded were resting. 'I guess I should get to work now that I am up,' she thought as she headed over. Chris began changing and washing bandages while talking to the men. She was so focused that she didn't think of anything else.

123

Lipton had started waking everyone up. The nuns were preparing breakfast and the men needed to eat before they headed off to their next assignment.

When he woke Joe up, the first thing Joe did was ask about Chris. "Is Christine up yet, Sarge? Have you seen her?"

"I haven't seen her yet, Joe. She's probably still asleep. Let her sleep another half hour," Lip said. He wouldn't deprive her of any sleep that she could get.

A half hour came and went and there was still no sign of the nurse. Joe was pacing up and down the pews. Everyone else was laughing and joking, happy to have some warm food in their bellies. Those nuns sure did know how to cook, but even a full stomach couldn't take Joe's mind off the missing nurse. After their fight, he had been hesitant to let her out of his sight. The only time he willingly left her was when he knew someone would be with her. He had been uneasy leaving her in that bed last night and he was uneasy now.

Finally, Joe pulled a passing nun aside. "Hey, have you seen our nurse, Christine? She was staying in one of your rooms last night. Can you go wake her up and send her out here?"

The nun only shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir, but she was gone before any of us woke this morning. We haven't seen her."

Joe was now officially worried. "Shit," he said, walking off. 'Where could she have gone? Wait. She's a nurse, maybe she's with the wounded. Yeah, I'll check there first,' Joe thought to himself before heading off to find Chris.

Joe's thinking had been correct. He opened the door and found the nurse sitting by a soldier, chatting away. Relief washed through him. He walked over to where she was sitting.

Chris looked up as he approached. "Good morning, Joe," she greeted with a smile.

He ignored the greeting. "You need to eat. We're heading out in an hour."

Chris started to protest. "I will come out in a bit. I still have some stuff to finish here."

Joe shook his head and told her that she needed to leave, now. She continued to protest. Joe ended the argument by picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder. She shrieked, causing everyone to look over at her. The soldier that she had been talking to merely laughed at her plight and told her to eat some extra food for him.

Joe was carrying her back inside when a voice from the shadows stopped him. "Why are you carrying our nurse around like a sack of potatoes, Corporal?" Speirs came into view behind Joe. Chris could only see below his knees from her vantage point. His legs disappeared when Joe turned around.

"She was out hiding with the wounded and wouldn't come eat, sir, so I had to force her back," Joe replied with a smile.

"I see," Ron said, looking at the red-faced nurse. "Carry on." The pun was not lost on Christine.

"What?" Christine squawked. "Ron, help me out here. You can't let him carry me around like this!" Speirs merely chuckled and walked away. "Joe, come on. Put me down," she pleaded. When the only response she received was a laugh, she began pounding on Joe's back.

In retaliation, Joe hit her butt with his free hand. "How dare you hit me, you cretin!" Chris yelled.

Joe tried to plug his ear to lessen the sound of her scream. "Yeah, yeah. If you'd stop moving, we could get there a lot faster. Now shut up."

Chris crossed her arms and pouted the rest of the way back. When they finally reached the rest of the men, Joe put Chris down. Everyone turned to look at the duo.

Chris was rubbing her butt. "You didn't have to hit my butt, you jerk."

"You didn't have to hit me either," Joe retorted.

"Wait. Lieb, you touched her butt?" Babe interrupted. When Chris nodded he yelled, "No one touches Chris. Let's get him, boys." With that, the men rushed forward to hit Joe, all in the name of their nurse. Chris laughed. 'Serves him right.'

Eventually they all backed off and Babe asked, "Where've you been, Chris?"

Chris had just taken a bite of food so she swallowed before answering. "I was out changing bandages and stuff. I didn't know what time it was and Joe came to tell me that breakfast was being served."

"So why did you have to be carried in?" Luz asked.

Chris glared at Joe before speaking. "Well, Joe didn't believe that I would make it here on my own and decided to carry me back. We even saw-YOU!" she screamed and pointed. Everyone turned to see Speirs walk in.

"Yes?" he asked, the picture of innocence.

"You let that idiot continue carrying me!" she yelled.

"Of course. I highly doubt that you would have made it back in time to eat before we had to leave otherwise," he said while calmly examining his hands.

Chris sighed in defeat. Everyone else was slightly shocked but then shook it off. Only their nurse could get away with yelling at the meanest, craziest son of a bitch around. Chris finished her food and grabbed her stuff. They were ready to head out for Hagenau.

123

They were loaded onto trucks and driving off when they passed First Battalion. George called out to them and when he had their attention said, "Hey, thanks for crapping in our foxholes, you shitheads."

One of the soldiers responded. "Yeah, it was our pleasure."

"Have a nice walk, boys," Bull said.

"Haben Sie ja einen netten Scheißspaziergang, Sie stumme Scheiße-Köpfe," Chris called out. Joe had heard what she said and was shocked. He had never heard such foul language from the nurse.

"What'd you just say?" the men asked her. She just smiled and laughed.

They all turned to Joe. "So, what'd she say?"

Joe was still shocked and took a moment to collect his thoughts before translating. "She said, 'Yeah, have a nice fucking walk, you dumb shitheads.'"

Everyone was shocked. There was no way such words could come from their sweet little nurse. They all turned to her for an explanation.

"I had to give them a rough time for Toye," she said shrugging. They were silent for a moment longer before returning to their earlier conversations.

_Author's Note: I apologize if my translations are a bit rough. I get them from the internet. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and please review._


	15. New Places and New Faces

_February 9, 1945 Haguenau, France_

"Check out that replacement," Chris said, pointing to the approaching man. He was clean-shaven, bright-eyed, and walked with a confidence that did not befit his replacement uniform. As he was walking, he was smiling, like he was happy to be here, not at all apprehensive. "He's pretty cocky. Who does he think he is?"

Luz looked over at the man and scoffed. "That ain't no replacement. That's David Webster."

Before Christine could say anything, this David Webster stole George's attention. She tried to remember if anyone had mentioned him before, but she came up blank. She missed the first half of their conversation, but she caught the end.

"I haven't been gone that long," Webster was telling George, as if he was being accused of something terrible that wasn't his fault. He re-shouldered his pack and walked up to the truck in front of Chris.

"Jesus Christ, yeah, you have," Luz called after him. Obviously, this man was not new to Easy. The question was, where had he been? And why did everyone else in the truck seem to hate him?

Luz was obviously not in the mood for a conversation so Chris turned to Shifty. "Who was that?"

Shifty glanced towards where Webster was fumbling to get in the truck. "Webster. He jumped into Normandy with us. He was a Toccoa man."

"Ok, but what happened?" Christine was confused. Toccoa men stuck together and were revered in Easy. The men should be welcoming him back with open arms and relief, not a cold-shoulder and annoyance.

Shifty answered in his quiet voice. "He got hit, back in Holland." He got hit, so what? Most of these guys have been injured.

George could see that Chris still didn't understand their distain. "He didn't come back," was all he said.

Oh. It made perfect sense. They were upset that he had abandoned them. Everyone else loathed the idea of sitting in a hospital bed, being separated from his brothers, and would do anything to get out. Apparently Webster didn't hate hospitals as much and stayed until he was fully recovered. "So, basically you all hate him because he actually did what a doctor told him to do?" Chris asked, understanding, but not agreeing with their logic.

"He could do whatever the damn doctor told him to do, but he didn't have to stay so fucking long!" George replied loudly. He didn't like yelling at the nurse, but not everyone is as forgiving as she is. To the men, it truly was a crime to not go AWOL to rejoin your comrades.

Chris merely shook her head and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

123

The trucks finally stopped and Chris hopped out. She started looking around for Gene. Truthfully, she was quite nervous. Back home, nothing really ever changed. Same house, same town, same people. In Europe, though, she had constantly moved hospitals with her parents and each time was a nightmare. She hated not knowing things, which happened a lot when moving. Each hospital would have its differences, either in people or in storage. Dealing with new people wasn't so bad because there wasn't usually too much socializing going on while the wounded poured in and any free time she had, she spent with her parents. It was frustrating not knowing where things were in every new hospital they worked in and Chris rarely ventured into town for fear of getting lost. Her parents were the only reason she was able to survive the many changes because they always looked out for her. Now they were gone and she was feeling like a lost little girl.

Chris was so nervous that she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Easy there, Chris. Didn't mean to scare you," Gene drawled when Chris turned to face him.

"Sorry, Gene. Do you know where we're going?" Chris was looking around, trying to find a sign or some sort of instruction.

"Yea. I do. Come on," he said, grabbing her arm. He had heard the officers point out where everyone was going and didn't want the little nurse to get swept away with the masses. He walked her around, letting her know where everything was. "That right there is OP 2, where 2nd platoon will be," he said, pointing to a two-story house in ruins. "Over here is where the officers will be setting up and finally, that's where we are staying." He stopped in front of a little, one-story house that appeared to be in fairly good shape.

Chris looked the house over, not sure what to think. It was small, smaller than the rest of the buildings around it. It was close to where the rest of Easy Company was staying, but it was also close to where the other companies were staying. The shyness in Chris hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with soldiers from other companies, unless of course, they were injured. Then she'd rush to their sides.

Gene had released her arm when they stopped in front of the house they were sharing with the other medics, but he grabbed it again to lead her inside. He had waited for her to go in but when he caught sight of her face, he knew that she wasn't moving anytime soon on her own.

When they finally made it inside, other medics were milling about. Gene looked about and couldn't find Spina. That meant that they would have to find a room to fit the three of them. Usually there were four beds to a room, but there was no way Gene would let anyone other than himself and Spina sleep in a room with Christine. After a bit of searching and pushing past tired medics, Gene found the ideal room. It had two beds on one wall and a single bed on the other. There was a table and some chairs in the middle of the room. Also, it was at the far end of the house, way away from the other occupants. They even had their own personal back door.

Christine watched and copied Gene. She set her bags on the bed he gestured for her to have after watching him throw his things onto another bed. 'Now what?,' she thought, sitting on the edge of the bed, staring expectantly at Gene. Usually, her parents would tell her what to do. Most of the time, they went to tour the hospital, but there was no hospital in Haguenau. They would have to ship the wounded out to a hospital elsewhere, probably Paris.

Gene felt Chris staring at the back of his head and looked over at her. He swallowed a chuckle. 'She looks like a little girl, not the mature young woman we're used to,' he thought with amusement. The only other time he saw her look like a child was when she was sleeping, but at least then her face was peaceful. Now she looked hesitant and lost and it pulled at his heart. "Why don't you go check on the officers, make sure they're settling in," he suggested.

"Ok." She got up and headed out the back door.

"And make sure dat the First Sergeant is resting!" he called after her.

She walked through the streets at a brisk pace; she had been sitting for a long time and needed to move around. She was glad that she didn't see men from any of the other companies. As she walked in, she was surprised at the number of people in the main room. Speirs was crouched down beside a couch, talking to Lip. Winters was listening to their conversation. Nixon was appraising what looked to be a higher ranking replacement. Finally, in a corner, forgotten, was Webster and it was he who noticed Christine first. Christine ignored his stare in favor of heading to the couch.

"Ah, our nurse is here," Winters said.

"Hello, sir," she greeted formally. Then, playfully, "Nice place you got here, Dick."

He chuckled. "Thanks. Getting settled in?"

Before she had a chance to answer, Speirs grabbed her attention. "Nurse, tell him," an accusatory glare sent to Lip, "to go sack out in the beds in back. He refuses to listen to me." Speirs was already annoyed that the Sergeant was sick, but now he refused to rest. It was too hard trying to control those unruly men on his own!

"First Sergeant Carwood Lipton-" she began.

"Ooh, boy are you in trouble now," Nix hollered. He and Dick shared a knowing look before heading out. They didn't bother saying goodbye, everyone was too focused on watching Chris chew out Lipton.

"Why are you out here, working?" She was glaring at him and the look made Speirs move back a step.

"Chris, please. I'm resting, but there are some things that need to get done." Lip finished his plea with a fit of coughs. That, combined with the nurse's hard stare caused him to sink even further into the couch.

"Yes and they can get done without you. Bed. Now," she ordered. "Ron, help him."

As Speirs helped Lip off the couch, the young Lieutenant spoke up. "Captain, I request permission to go on the patrol."

Ron looked at the Lieutenant, incredulous. "No," he said simply. "You've got no experience. Report to 2nd platoon. Tell- Tell Heffron, Ramirez, and McClung they're going. Webster, go with him. You're with second. Chris, do you mind showing them the way?" He had addressed the men briskly, but when speaking to the nurse, his tone had softened considerably, Webster noted.

"Of course not," she told him before addressing Lip, "And I will come back to deal with you later. Now go rest."

Lip smiled weakly. "Yes, ma'am."

Chris approached the two that she would be delivering to Malarkey. She held out her hand first to the Lieutenant. "Hello, sir. My name is Christine Engel and I am the field nurse attached to Easy Company."

He hesitantly shook her hand. "Lieutenant Jones. I didn't realize that they let nurses out onto the lines," he said, face was twisted into a frown.

"They usually don't, sir. I am an anomaly." She let go of his hand to shake Webster's.

"Private David Webster. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss."

"Likewise." Chris was growing embarrassed with the constant staring Webster was doing. She forced herself to look away from his enchanting bright blue eyes. "Let's go, shall we?" She didn't wait for an answer. Both men followed her out the door and onto the street.

"So. Lieutenant, I noticed your ring. Where did you graduate from?" Chris asked as she led them through the streets.

The young man was nervous; Chris missed a couple of words of his answer because he wouldn't stop looking around him. "West Point. June 6, 1944."

"West Point. Congratulations, sir." She could see that he was uncomfortable and it was obvious that he didn't want to talk. He would have trouble fitting in. He was too formal for her boys. Hopefully he wouldn't get hurt.

Webster, however, was more than happy to strike up a conversation. "Christine. Have you heard what everyone is calling this fine company that you are serving with?"

"No." Their conversation was temporarily interrupted by mortars. 'It's so nice not to have anyone jump on me,' Christine thought as she threw herself behind a wall. Webster had done the same and the Lieutenant was still scrambling for cover. Even though he was jumpy, it was obvious that this was nothing new for Webster. Chris stood as soon as the mortars stopped falling and waited for her companions to come to her.

"The 101st Airbourne, for their time in Bastogne, are now known as the 'Battered Bastards of Bastogne'."

"What a nice use of alliteration," she commented thoughtfully.

"Alliteration?" Webster asked, tone colored with surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Alliteration is a stylistic device that is defined by-,"

Webster cut her off, a wide grin on his face. "No, no. I know what alliteration is. I just never expected to find someone out here who would also. You see, I attended Harvard. English major."

Chris turned to him, excitement on her face. "Really? Well, then, I hope that sometime we can have an academic discussion." It has been so long since she had had the chance to learn something of the academic variety and couldn't wait.

"That would be my pleasure." Webster was quite pleased now. He looked forward to having an intelligent conversation with the pretty young woman.

Jones listened to the discussion, unsure of how the two could so easily converse when they were walking in a street peppered with mortar strikes. 'He'll learn. He just needs some time,' Chris thought. She stopped in front of a building to open the door. "Well, here we are. I'll take you both up to see Sergeant Malarkey."

Chris asked one of the men where Malarkey was and when she was directed upstairs, led Jones and Webster up to see him. Chris went into the room with an open door. Some of the boys were sitting on the bunk beds, others gathered by the windows, sipping coffee and talking. "Hey, Malarkey. I brought two young men to see you. One Lieutenant Jones and one Private Webster. Ron told me to run them over."

Malarkey turned to look at the new additions. "I'm sure he did," Malarkey muttered. First he has the new recruit, straight from school. Then he's given Webster, the only one of Easy who didn't try to get back to them. Just great.

Chris saw Jackson lying on one of the bunks and hopped up by his head. He let her lift his head and lay it on her lap. Chris felt close to Jackson, probably after he told her that he lied about his age to join the military. He was probably the youngest person there, besides her. She stroked his hair and listened to the conversations going on around her. She could see Malarkey's nonplussed reaction to Jones' comments about dodging mortars on the way over. Their conversation was drowned out when Liebgott and the rest of the men brought Webster over to the bunks to gossip about the Lieutenant and to try to coerce the patrol information out of him.

123

Jones was unhappy with the presence of a woman out here in the war. He was always taught that women were too weak to fight in a war. That they were physically incapable of keeping up with men and too mentally and emotionally unstable to handle war. He planned to ask about removing the nurse the first chance he got.

Malarkey was about to head over to inform the men of the patrol tonight when Jones stopped him. He glanced over at Chris before speaking. "Sergeant. Why is that nurse here? She belongs off the line. In a hospital, at the closest."

Malarkey had been close to a shell of a human, displaying no real emotion except disinterest when speaking with the Lieutenant, but now he was full of passion. "Look here, sir. She was with us for two months in Bastogne. She is a fully qualified and capable nurse, been in the business her whole life. She has every right to be out here and she stays here unless Captain Winters says otherwise. Understood, sir?" Malarkey asked, eyes still blazing.

Jones gulped, totally unprepared for the onslaught. "Yes, Sergeant."

Thankfully Malarkey managed to keep his voice down, so that no one else heard the exchange. Who knows what would have happened if the other men had heard the Lieutenant questioning their nurse's right to be out here.

Christine noticed Jones glance her way and decided it was time to go. She needed to go check on Lip and Webster's constant staring didn't encourage her to stay, either. Christine ruffled Jackson's hair one last time before hopping off the bunk. Once her feet her on the ground, she bade farewell to the boys. "Well, it seems like Webster has plenty to tell you, so I'm off."

The men watched her leave and then glared a little at Webster, like it was his fault she left. Joe glared even harder when he noticed Webster's eyes follow Christine out. He decided to grill Webster a little harder to bring his mind back on track.

123

Luz and Chris were helping Vest take an inventory of the stuff in the boxes that they just got. Chris had left second platoon to go check on Lipton. He was resting, thankfully, and she left orders with a Private Walden to give him lots of coffee and extra blankets. She wasn't sure what to do with herself and wasn't tired, so she decided to see if anyone needed help. She had found Vest trying to unload some boxes and here she was.

Martin was sitting on a stool, trying to persuade George to give him some chocolate bars. "God damn it, Johnny," Luz said, "You're breaking my heart, I'm telling you."

"Come on, George, just give me, I don't know, 10, 15 bars," Martin pleaded.

"Juicy Fruit, happy?" Christine could tell that Johnny most definitely was not happy. It had been a while since they've had a chance to eat chocolate and Chris couldn't be mad at him for trying to get one.

"Here, George, let me take that box," Chris offered. She gently lifted the box he was carrying out of his hands and set it down and started unpacking it, giving him a moment to rest.

"Thanks, Chris." He weakly tried to return the smile she gave him, but failed. It just wasn't a day for smiles.

There was a few second warning. She could hear the voices before a large group of soldiers poured into the room.

"Whoa, Hershey bars!" Liebgott cried, rushing over to the counter. Chris watched with amusement as her boys tried to get some chocolate. She felt bad for poor George who was trying to fend them off and get Cobb to control his mouth. Her amusement faded when it became chaotic. Whines for chocolate over here, questions of the location of Speirs over there, it was becoming too hectic.

"Hey, big mouth, give the kid a Hershey bar, huh?" Perconte couldn't have had better timing. All of the arguing stopped to greet the old friend. Christine followed the chocolate bar that was thrown to him. She quickly welcomed him back, giving him a stern look about going AWOL. She handed Perco over to Johnny and went back to helping Luz and Vest unload boxes.

Things were getting kind of rough in the room and Chris wanted no part of it. "Hey, Luz, Vest, I'm going outside for a bit, then I will come back and help."

Vest merely nodded, concentrating on his task. George, however, grabbed a bar of chocolate and handed it to her as she walked around the counter. "Thanks for the help, Chris. I'm about to head out myself, to blast that building."

"Thank you, George. You're the best radioman ever," she said, gratefully. She turned and found herself surrounded by the men.

"Hey, Chris, why don't you share some of that chocolate?" Joe asked, scooting closer to her.

Jackson was at his side, widening his eyes and putting on a pathetic face. "Joe doesn't need chocolate. _Please_ share with me." He knew that she couldn't resist his baby face.

"Nope. Sorry boys, but I'm not sharing. You'll just have to wait your turn," she replied, shaking her head.

The boys didn't like that answer and decided to take it by force, yelling things like "Give it to me" or "Over here, it's mine" and the like. The bar was in her hand, above and behind her head, just out of their reach. Christine backed up until the counter dug into her back. She couldn't go back anymore, but the men pressed forward. She leaned backwards, yet the boys didn't stop.

Joe and Jackson were practically on top of her, reaching for the bar. Their faces were close enough that she could see the occasional blood spot still on their cheeks where they nicked themselves shaving or the stray whisker that they missed. She could see the skin flaking off of their chapped lips. With both of them pressing down on top of her, she could feel her lungs being compressed and knew that she couldn't keep this up forever. Them pushing against each other, trying to be the first to get the prize, did not help matters.

It was then, with the two boys laying on top of her, straining to get the chocolate, that she noticed something. "Luz, hold the bar for a moment, please."

"Sure thing, Chris," he said, taking the bar and stepping back.

Joe and Jackson were about to straighten out, but were stopped by Christine. She grabbed their heads and scrunched her face, analyzing their faces. Everyone was very confused by her actions, especially the two being scrutinized. She sniffed at their necks and started rubbing their faces. She released them enough so that she could sit on the counter and continue her examination. She pulled at their clothes and looked at their necks and shoulders. "You had showers!" she finally exclaimed.

Everyone started grinning, realizing the reason behind Christine's weird behavior. "Yeah, they set up showers a little while ago. There's hot water and new uniforms," they started saying.

Her face lit up, eyes filled with longing. "Are they almost done?" she asked. "I want a turn."

George was about to walk out, Vest, Jones, and Webster following him, when he turned back around. "Oh, Chris, here ya go," he said, giving her back her chocolate.

All talk of showers were gone. Joe, Jackson and Heffron slowly approached her. Chris looked at them and her surroundings. There was no way she would outrun the three of them; they'd catch her in less than thirty seconds. They were getting closer. There was only one thing Chris could do: shove the bar down her shirt and she did it.

All three men froze. It was a move of desperation, but it seems to have worked. That is, until Joe got a feral smile on his face. That wasn't going to stop him, Chris could see. She pulled out her last defense. "If you take one more step, Joe, I'm going to tell Captain Speirs that you put your hands in my shirt and groped me."

Joe reeled backwards along with everyone else, all looking very alarmed. They'd be dead in an instant if Speirs thought that they had touched the nurse. The room was completely silent for a few minutes.

Johnny remembered Christine's question about showering earlier. "Chris, the men are almost done showering. If you want one, we'll take you there," he offered, trying to shake off the feeling of panic she had just instilled in every man present.

"Oh, it's ok," she said, shrugging away his offer, "I won't get lost."

Johnny looked at her, face deadly serious. "I'm not worried about you getting lost."

"Oh." She knew what he was talking about. The men of Easy Company were too honorable to look in on a showering woman. Well, no, they weren't, but they wouldn't look in on her. But they weren't the problem. It was the other soldiers, men from different companies, who'd be more than happy to watch her, the first female they have seen in months, naked in the shower. "Well, then. Thank you. I am ready to go whenever you are," she told Johnny.

"Kay, boys. Let's go. We can come back later," Johnny said, standing up. The rest of the men followed his lead, with minimal complaints. After all, if it was for the good of their nurse, they would do anything. They made a good sized group from the start, but grew even larger on the trip to the showers. Whenever one of their friends asked where they were going, and they explained their new job, that friend would decide to come along and help. It wasn't like they had anything better to do.

When the group got to the showers, there weren't too many people around. Luckily, no one was in the showers, they were merely milling about outside. When the laze-about soldiers saw almost half a company approaching with glares on their faces, they skeddadled. The men smiled to themselves, proud that they were already successful.

Babe handed her a clean uniform and a towel and told her that there was soap in the showers. Chris thanked him and headed into the tent, closing the flaps behind her. The men took up guard in front of the only entrance to the showers, waiting for Christine to shower and change.

123

Lieutenant Jones had gone to ask Captain Winters if he could go on the patrol in place of Sergeant Malarkey. Luck was on his side. Captain Winters, though he denied Jones' request at first, reconsidered after he allowed Vest to go. He was grateful to the Captain and didn't want to push his luck, but he couldn't let matters lie. How could the Captain allow the nurse to remain with the men? She was surely a distraction, even if she was a semidecent nurse.

"Sir," Jones said his voice and appearance strong, though his heart anxious.

Both Captain Winters and Captain Speirs turned to look at him, so he continued. "Is it really wise to have . . . to have a nurse out here with all of the men?" he ventured, cautiously.

Speirs was furious that the Lieutenant had the balls to question his superiors. He was from West Point, for Christ's sake! Didn't they teach him respect? And who the hell was he to question Christine's presence? She had more combat experience then he did and was a damned fine nurse. There was no reason that she shouldn't be here.

Winters, while not as furious as Speirs, was not happy. He frowned and looked down at the Lieutenant. "That is none of your concern, Lieutenant. If it was, I would tell you that she is better than many medics and is quite useful out here. But it is not any of your business. Don't you have a patrol to get ready for?" Winters coldly asked.

Jones was sorry he asked. "Yes, sir."

123

Gene was walking back from checking on the guys in first platoon when he saw a very large group of soldiers standing outside of the showers. He decided to investigate. When he got closer he saw that they were all from Easy Company.

"Hey, Doc," Bull called out to the medic when he saw him approach. He was, as usual, chomping away on his cigar.

"Hey guys. What's going on here?" the medic asked, rubbing his arms, looking at all of the men. Some of them had turned to talk to him, and others were talking amongst themselves, but every one of them kept an eye on the surrounding area.

"We're on guard duty," Popeye said.

"Guard duty?" Gene repeated. What were they guarding?

"Yeah, guard duty," Popeye repeated, nodding his head. He saw that Doc was still confused so he explained further. "You see, Chris wanted a shower but we didn't want any of the men from the other companies tryin' anything, so we decided to sits here and make sure no one else came close."

Doc was surprised at first, but it made sense. "Well then, I guess I'll just join y'all. How long she been in there?" he wondered aloud while making himself comfortable, leaning against some rubble.

"Hmm, 'bout ten minutes," Perco answered after consulting one of his many watches.

123

About the time Gene spotted her troop of guards, Christine was turning off the water. After closing the flaps, Chris found a bench to set the new uniform on to keep it dry. She turned on the water and took off her grimy old uniform and set that a little ways away from the clean things. For the first few minutes, Christine merely stood under the shower head, letting the warm water pour over her body and her dogtags. It felt so good. She gently scrubbed all of the dirt from her body before attacking her hair. She scrubbed her scalp so hard, trying to get all of the muck out, she was surprised that she didn't have blood running down her face. Finally, she washed all of the dirt from her dogtags, leaving them as clean as she could get them.

She stood under the warm water another minute before sighing and turning off the spray. She grabbed the towel and briskly dried herself off before putting on the clean uniform. Gathering up the rest of her things, she opened up the tent flaps.

"Here, Chris. I'll take those." Chris turned, startled, to see Chuck Grant at her side, ready to take the dirty uniform and wet towel.

"Thank you, Chuck," she said, flashing him a smile and handing over the items. Everyone else laughed and stopped warily watching the road. They had taken their role as protectors quite seriously.

Liebgott had turned to face the entrance to the showers as soon as he heard the water stop running. He waited, impatient, for the nurse to come out. He, like everyone else, was stunned at how pretty she looked when cleaned up. Sure, she had washed her hair once in Bastogne, but there had still been dirt on her face and mud splattering her uniform. Now, her light skin looked even paler, contrasting the brightness of the clean uniform and blending in with the surrounding snow. The freckles across her nose were more pronounced, but not horribly so. The redness of her cheeks looked rosy, without a mix of brown. Her lips, not looking quite as chapped as usual, seemed to have the color and texture of a pink rose petal. And her hair was glistening . . . because it was dripping wet!

Joe got up and stalked over to the table to grab a towel. He stormed over to Christine and dropped the towel over her head. "You stupid idiot. Don't you know by now how to dry your own hair?" He continued to mumble as he roughly dried her hair. The men laughed before going their separate ways, waving goodbye to Christine.

Joe did this for another five minutes and by that time most of the crowd had dissipated. He was finally satisfied that her hair was dry enough and threw the towel back on the table.

"Thank you," she said, smiling up at him sweetly.

Joe felt his heart skip a beat and returned her smile with a crooked smile of his own without even thinking. He would do anything to see that smile, that beautiful smile. "No problem. Wouldn't want you getting sick like the First Sergeant." They stood there for another minute, just looking at each other, no words passed between them. Finally, Joe spoke up. "I better head out and go to that meeting for that fucking patrol tonight," he spat, bitter. Couldn't they give them a break?

Concern flashed across Christine's face for a moment, then disappeared. She nodded and they walked off, Joe to the meeting, Chris to go finish unloading those boxes.

123

The boxes had all been unloaded and accounted for so Chris decided to go spend some time with the boys going on patrol tonight. 'It's different than being in Bastogne,' she thought. 'We were always together, taking hits or huddled in foxholes. We didn't send off groups, knowing that they could get hurt without us. Well, I guess it's not so different than being sent on a patrol through the forest. We just never went to collect prisoners is all.'

She didn't walk very far before she nearly collided with a certain Captain who had come to check on the nurse. "I'm sorry, Ron. I wasn't looking at where I was going."

He shrugged off her apology. "It's no problem. Where are you headed?"

"Oh. I was just going to check on the boys who were going out later," she replied. He nodded and started walking towards where second platoon was staying. It was the way he came from. "Um, Ron? Didn't you just come from that direction?" she asked, confused,

He didn't stop walking so she jogged to walk next to him. "Yes, I did. But it doesn't matter. I see you found the showers," he said, successfully changing the subject.

"I did, after I saw second platoon come in all nice and clean. I was jealous, so I went off to take my own shower."

"Did anything . . . happen while you were showering? I mean, did you close the tent flaps? And were you able to shower in peace?" He seemed a little embarrassed to ask the questions.

Chris let out a small laugh. "Nothing happened. I actually had quite an array of bodyguards. I do believe that I had half of the company standing outside the showers, making sure that I was not disturbed."

Speirs let out a sigh of relief. He would have gone out and shot any peeping toms, even if they were from his old company, Dog Company. Before long, they reached their destination and Speirs held the door open for Chris. Chris led the way into the basement where the group and a few others had gathered. Everyone would be working tonight; if they weren't crossing the river, they would provide covering fire as our men came back.

Speirs walked off to talk to Lieutenant Jones and Chris was pulled over by Shifty. "What's up, Shifty?" she asked as he led her to the little corner where he was blacking his gear.

"I just thought that you might want your hair combed out now that it's had a chance to dry," he said quietly.

"Why, yes, I would. Thank you, Shifty." He held out a chair for her to sit in. After she was seated, he went behind her, grabbed the comb and gently combed out her hair. Christine loved the times Shifty would do her hair because she could feel the sweetness in his actions. She sometimes had difficulty remembering the fact that this incredibly gentle and kind mind was the best shot in the company and could hit almost any target. If someone needed to be taken out, you asked Shifty.

"Do you want me to braid it? 'Cuz I mean, it looks really pretty. Quite beautiful, I declare and it would be a shame to have something so pretty all tied up in a braid." Shifty was talking so fast, Chris almost missed a few of the words that his accent made him slur in his hurry. He had been slowly stroking her hair, but as he started talking, his motions sped up to match the fast pace of his speech.

"It's fine down. Thank you so much, Shifty. You're the best," she said as she got up and turned to give him a quick hug. He quickly enveloped her in his arms and just as quickly he released her.

"Would you like some stew?" Jackson asked Christine from his chair a few feet away. He, like everyone else, had been blacking his stuff. The 'nothing rattle, nothing shines' rule had to be followed, down to every last detail. It could mean the difference between coming back in one piece or getting hit because the Germans saw something shiny to shoot at.

"Sure," she said, following him to the pot. Jackson had grabbed his own mug and filled it for her. Just as he was about to give it to her, a hand shot out and took it. Chris turned to see Joe holding the mug high above his head.

"Ah, ah, ah. I don't think so. I'll take that," he said as he started to eat it.

"Hey!" Chris cried, indignant. "That's mine. Give it back." When she tried to reach for it, Joe would hold it just out of her reach. Even though he was only an inch taller than her, his arms were longer and he successfully kept her from getting it.

"Nope," Joe replied, popping the 'p' and grinning. "You got the chocolate bar, I get the stew."

She huffed, but stopped trying to get the mug. Christine looked around her for some help, but Jackson had gone back to his seat and everyone else was busy with their gear. She missed Webster, who would probably have gladly gone over to help her. It was easier to miss his stares when there were so many others in the room. She finally spotted Speirs and an idea formed. "If that's how you want to be, fine," she said and walked away.

Joe hadn't expected her to give up so easily and he stood there, dumb-founded.

Christine walked right up to Speirs, who quickly finished his conversation with Martin, Malarkey and Jones before turning his attention to the nurse. "Yes?"

"Earlier today, I was helping Vest and Luz unload boxes when a huge group of our soldiers came in. They had seen that we had unloaded some chocolate bars and they went a little crazy. They actually started trying to fight to get the Hershey bars." Here she paused and looked at Joe, mischief all over her face. Joe knew what she was about to say and ran over. "I was given a bar and-"

A hand clamped over her mouth. Her eyes filled with pretend alarm. She looked pleadingly at Speirs; 'Please help me. Get this crazy guy away from me,' her eyes said. Speirs looked up at an alarmed Joe.

When Speirs spoke, his voice was dangerously hard. "Corporal, why do you have your hand over our nurse's mouth?" It required an explanation that better be pretty damn good.

Joe swallowed before answering, "Well, sir, you see, she uh . . ." He had no excuse ready and Speirs was growing angry.

"Let go of her. Now," he ordered. If Joe didn't move his hand, he was going to shoot it off. Joe gulped again before slowly lowering his hand. Chris sent Speirs a look of gratitude. "Now, what were he saying?" he asked her.

"Oh, I was just saying that I still have that bar and I was wondering if you wanted some. I know that the chocolate was distributed among the men, but no one had taken any to the officers," she said, sweetly. She looked at Joe innocently. He had believed that Chris was about to tell Speirs that he had stuck his hand down her shirt and that death was imminent. "A little worried are we?" she whispered to Joe.

"Thank you, Chris," Speirs said, accepting half of the bar. The two munched on the chocolate as the rest of the room bit back laughter. Everyone had heard, if not seen, what had happened in the inventory room. They all thought that Chris was going to tell Speirs and that Joe was going to get it. Watching this little scene had been funny as hell.

123

Chris was lying on her bed, waiting. Waiting to hear a whistle that she probably wouldn't have been able hear unless she was on the edge of the river. Waiting to hear the sounds of gunshots. Waiting to hear her boys yell, either in victory or in panic. Waiting to be called to do her job. Just waiting.

123

_Winters had just told her that she could not wait with the rest of the men on the bank. She was to wait, figurative miles away, in her room._

_"Why can't I stay here?" she asked. If one strained, they might be able to detect the whiny child in her voice, but no one around her heard it._

_"Because your hair is so bright, it'll be the perfect target for the Krauts," Nix joked. Chris merely glared at him and waited for Winters to answer her question._

_"Because I said so," he said slowly. He turned his back to her to look over the river. "Now go to your room and stay there like a good little medic. Doc and Spina will be there and someone will get you if we need you. Though I hope we won't," he added. Nix chuckled at her plight; she had just been sent to her room like a child. Christine sighed and accepted defeat, heading back to her room to sit in silence with Gene and Spina._

123

'I know that the waiting will be just as bad out there, but I still want to wait out_ there_,' she thought. After an eternity of waiting, she heard yelling. Johnny was pounding on the door. Gene rushed up to open it. Martin was saying that Jackson got hurt and they needed to come quick.

Just as they were rushing out the door, Spina sat up. "You stay here, Spina," Doc ordered. "We got this."

The three of them sprinted to the basement that they men had taken Jackson to. It was chaos. Chris could hear too many people yelling and smelled blood and burnt flesh.

"He took a grenade. It was his own," Johnny told them as they rushed to Jackson's side.

Vest was screaming his head off and Chris could see that it was freaking Jackson out. "Someone get him out of here," she yelled, trying to work around the men holding the kid down.

Gene was checking Jackson's eyes. "Let's get him up onto a stretcher," Gene said hurriedly.

Chris went up to his head, where a gash was bleeding profusely as Gene was trying to staunch the flow gushing from his neck. "Jackson, Jackson. Listen to me. I got you, I got you. Jackson! Don't give up, me and Gene got you. Hang on, Jackson," she urged. She continued to repeat his name, trying to get him to focus as he was spasming and coughing up blood.

They had to set him down, they were losing him. "Mama, I don't want to die," he choked out around the blood in his mouth. Gene was yelling at him, trying to get him to hold on while blood poured from under his fingers on Jackson's neck. Jackson's eyes were slipping out of focus.

Christine released her hold on his head. Instead, she grabbed one of his hands and began stroking his hair. "It's okay, sweetie. It'll be all right. I'm here," she whispered.

Jackson tried to turn his head to look at her. "Ma-" he gasped one last time before going still. Everyone stared at his body in silent shock. Some of the men started crying, there was no shame in shedding tears for a friend. It was too painful to lose the kid, especially so horribly. He had walked into his own bloody grenade. They put him into a dank, dark basement where he died, crying out in pain.

Gene rolled back and sat down, staring out, but not looking at what was in front of him.

Jones could only stare in wide-eyed horror. He had never seen anything so terrible; no one had really talked about the ugly side of war.

Chris threw herself over Jackson, her head on his chest, hair covering her head and most of his torso and face. She let some of the tears in her eyes fall on his body, as her own wracked with sobs. She was beyond caring about who saw her cry; a young man had just died, when the war was all but over. He had never had a chance to live. His last few years were filled with pain, blood, sweat, death, and fear. His final moments held the worst pain he ever felt and he fell into delirium right before death. She cried for what could have been, what should have been.

For ten minutes, everyone grieved together. Finally, Johnny grabbed a blanket to drape over the body. But first, Christine needed to move. Perconte, who was the closest, knelt down and gently touched her shoulder. Christine's body stilled. Perco squeezed her shoulder and finally she lifter her head. Her eyes were slightly red and her hair was falling around her as she sat up. She bent down to close Jackson's eyes and kiss him on the lips, a last goodbye. She stood up and stepped back, allowing Johnny to cover the body of the forever young.

Once the body was covered, she looked over to the still stunned Lieutenant. She walked over until she was right in front of him. He looked down at her and what a sight she was. Hair all over the place, blue green eyes ablaze with a whirlwind of emotions, and Jackson's blood on her lips and chin.

"So you think I don't belong here," she begins, voice soft yet harder than steel. "That because I am a woman, I have no place in this war. Let me tell you some things,_ sir_. In January of 1942, you were attending West Point. You were being groomed to be the perfect soldier, the perfect leader. You were well on your way to fulfilling your aspirations of helping this country, with the support of family and friends. You knew our country was at war, we had just been attacked and you were training to help. On June 6, 1944, you graduated. You were now able to begin the next leg of your journey to becoming that perfect leader. A month ago, you were told that you were going to Europe to get some battle experience. Yesterday, you were directed to Easy Company and spent the day with the men. Early this morning, you went on a patrol, a prisoner snatch, with them. You ran back with them and sat, helpless, watching a young man die in agony."

"In January of 1942, I was already on my way to Europe, to work in military hospitals, to treat the men who were already serving their country. I had been trained all my life to work in a hospital, as a secretary, as a nurse, as a doctor, and as a surgeon. My toys were doctor's tools and surgical utensils. On June 6, 1944, I can't tell you specifically where I was, but it's all the same. I was walking on blood, covered in it, desperately trying to save lives. If I wasn't fighting Death, I was comforting a soldier who was about to meet Death; providing a hand to hold, an ear to listen with, soft words of comfort. A month ago, I was out in the Bois Jaques, moving between foxholes, checking on my men when I wasn't finding some cover from mortar attacks. Yesterday, I was on a truck, going wherever some military official told me, not knowing what was going to happen. Early this morning, I was waiting for gunshots, for someone screaming for me to do my job. I ran here and tried my hardest to save a young man's life and failed. The only thing I could do was hold his hand and offer a dying kid some comfort."

"You have been in Europe, in a 'war zone' for a month. I have been in Europe for over three years. You have been on the front line for one day, dodging death at every corner. I have been on the front line since Bastogne. It's been about four months since I've worked in a hospital. You faced the Germans for less than an hour. That's the sum of your combat experience. I sat in Bastogne for two months, looking the Germans in the face, dodging their bullets for two months as my combat experience."

"I have come to expect death, and know how arbitrary it is. How quick or slow it can be. The varying degrees of pain that precede it. I have seen it all. Jackson? He was nothing compared to what I've dealt with. Look at you, you still looked shocked. He's probably the first man you've seen die. Up until now, you thought this was a perfect world, that no one died in war, that you were perfectly safe. Back home, the biggest trouble is deciding what house to buy next, not if you're ever going to see home again, if you still have one. I'm not the one who's unsuited for war, Lieutenant, it's you. So after all of this, I tell you again: How dare you say I don't belong here."

Christine finished, never having broken eye contact with the Lieutenant. His face hadn't changed one bit but she can see her words slowly starting to sink in. Everyone else was just as shocked. They, of course, knew exactly what she was talking about, but they had never expected her to so brazenly tell the Lieutenant that he was an idiot and so glaringly wrong about everything. Jones looked like she had just slapped him.

She turned to head out the door. "Oh and sir?" she called back, "War does not pass by women or children, the old or the weak. Death does not discriminate: it does not judge people by their sex or age or race. Neither should you." And with that she walked out the door.

Gene stood up and started talking without looking at Jones. "You know, she's right, with that last bit, sir. As you saw, there is no predicting who will die or not. She came to Europe with her parents. They were big shot surgeons. The only way they would go was if they could take their daughter along. She was only fourteen." Jones looked at him, disbelieving. That woman was not a child, she hadn't been for a while. "She's now seventeen." Jones did the math and found that Gene was right. She still wasn't even an adult, not old enough to enlist in the military.

"She worked with her parents in various hospitals all over the continent, following the line. In November, the hospital they were at was bombed. She made it, they didn't. She's been our field nurse ever since. She didn't want to go back home 'cuz she ain't got one to go back to. So, honestly, sir, I believe she is right. She has as much a right to be here as we do." Gene left them all, and they were speechless yet again.

Jones couldn't believe it. At this point, watching Jackson bleed to death seemed like nothing. Christine had dropped a bomb and he was trying to move through the wreckage. Everything she had said was true. Everything about him, about what he knew, about what the people he used to be around knew, all of it, was true. And a child, a girl, had to tell him that. An orphan, no family or home. Hell, maybe he really wasn't cut out for this.

Bull walked over to Jones. "You know, son, just because she was right doesn't mean she was right. Just keep your head up, keep moving, do as your told and help those under you. Most of all, be as careful as you can, even if it don't matter. But, do all that, and you got a pretty good shot at surviving war." Bull clapped him on the shoulder and walked away.

Jones left the basement, ignoring everyone, still trying to process the night with the horrible death and sudden twist of reality. He was walking to where he was quartered when he saw a figure appear in front of him from the shadows. It was Christine.

"I am sorry for my rashness earlier, sir." She cut him off before he could say anything. "But I am not sorry for what I said, sir. They don't tell you what war is truly like back home. If they did, who would sign up for it? But war isn't always like that. It is a means to the end. Hopefully it will bring peace, that is what we are fighting for. I don't believe in war. Yes, it exists, but it shouldn't. It ruins everyone, especially those fighting in it. If I could, I would send you back home, Lieutenant, to be that naive, little boy you were before yesterday. It's nothing personal, but no one should be here, seeing and experiencing all of this."

Here she paused and reached out to pat his arm. Though she was surprised when he took her hand, she didn't show it. "I'm sure you will be a wonderful leader, someday, Lieutenant. Please stay alive until then, and afterwards, live a long, happy life in peace."

They shared a moment of silence. They finally reached a truce. He finally accepted her right to be with her men. She never had any problem with his being here, but she wanted him to be prepared for what he will face.

"Well, goodnight, Lieutenant," she said, gently pulling on her hand to walk away.

"I think you mean good morning, nurse. It is morning after all. But let me walk you to your room. You are still a child," he said, releasing her hand as soon as he was sure that she would follow.

"Who told you that I was a child?" she asked.

"One of the men was talking and said that you were still seventeen, thus a child in America," he said. She didn't have the strength to argue with him.

They finally reached the house of medic. "Sleep well, Lieutenant."

"And you, too, nurse," Jones said, giving her a bow before walking away to sleep.

Both of them fell into bed, asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

123

The Lieutenant received orders to ship out to continue his journey. the one person he made sure to speak to before leaving was, to everyone's surprise, Christine. They walked off and Chris glared at their followers and had a few minutes to speak in private. Their followers watched the exchange with interest. They didn't know what to think as the pair seemed to be having a civil conversation, and almost seemed friendly. Right before Jones got on the truck to leave, he shook Christine's hand and saluted her as he was driven off. Needless to say, the rest of the men were stunned.

"He'll be just fine," she told everyone with confidence.

123

"Did you hear?" Talbert asked Christine, "First Sergeant Lipton is now Lieutenant Lipton and Welsh is back."

Chris squealed and ran off to the officers' building to congratulate her friends. She met them as they were coming out the door. "Congratulations, Lip," she said, giving him a hug.

"Thanks, Chris," he said, returning the hug and smile.

"And you, Harry Welsh, I want you to be careful for a few days, give your chance a leg to heal," she told Harry, her face stern.

"Christine, I have been at the hospital this whole time. A month and a half. I did not leave until they told me it was completely fine. I waited to come back so that you wouldn't bitch at me. So now stop your bitching and gimme a hug," Harry ordered, motioning for her to come here. Chris smiled and let herself be tightly squeezed in his embrace.

Eventually she pulled away and addressed them both. "I would just like to say that I am happy for both of you. For your promotion, Lip and your return, Harry.

After that she walked off to spend the day with her men. A little birdie that drinks Vat 69 told her that another patrol was ordered for tonight but that little birdie thought that it might not happen. She could only hope so.

123

It was the time of the scheduled patrol that would be written up but never happened and Chris couldn't sleep. She thought that getting some fresh air would help and went down to the river bank. She was sitting quietly and was about to get up to leave when she saw something flash. She heard footsteps and some voices.

"Shut up," one person hissed. "Wir versuchen, ruhig zu sein (We are trying to be quiet)."

Christine silently got up and turned to run but found herself face to face with a man dressed in a German uniform. "Und was tun wir hier (And what do we have here)?" he asked, grabbing her.

"Ich bin Arzt. Bitte nicht auf mich schießen (I'm a doctor. Please don't shoot me)," she pleaded.

"Deutsch (German)?" he asked, never releasing his hold on her.

"Was ist der Platz für bis (What's the hold up?)" one of his companions asked. "Oh, ein Mädchen. Nur bringen ihr entlang. Vielleicht können wir bis zu einem gewissen Einsatz finden sie (Oh, a girl. Just bring her a long. We might be able to find some use of her)." His smile was predatory and shook Chris to the core.

She tried to pull herself free, but the man holding her merely took his gun and swung it at her head. Chris heard a dull crack before she was engulfed in blackness.

_Reviews appreciated_.


	16. In the Hands of the Germans

Warning: Contains sensitive content (heavily implied rape, nothing graphic)

"Uugh." Christine was slowly regaining conscious. All she could process was how much her head hurt. It felt a bit like the time she woke up after Layman had knocked her out to kidnap her. That thought really woke her up.

Chris shot up, quickly regretting the sudden movement that caused her head to pound even harder. 'Where am I?' she thought, looking around. A single light in the middle of the room allowed her to check out her surroundings. It was a run-down room, covered in dust and rubble. There was a window on one wall, a door on the wall opposite. Tucked away in a corner was a small bed.

Slowly, Chris rose. Her heart was racing and she looked around, apprehensive. 'What am I going to do? Where am I?' Before she could attempt any other thoughts, the door opened. Chris held her breath, waiting for the figure to come into the light. She gasped when she made out the German uniform that the man was wearing. 'This is not good,' she thought, beginning to panic.

The soldier ran his eyes up and down the nurse's form. He took in her skinny, yet slightly curvy frame, tense. Her bright eyes, wide with fear. Her pale pink lips, parted to let out shuddering breaths. Her long, pretty hair, flowing down her back. He licked his lips in anticipation. "Sie sind ein US-amerikanischer arzt (So, you are an American doctor)?"

Chris could only nod, fear having constricted her throat. "Woher wissen sie so gut Deutsch, dann (How do you know German so well then)?" he asked. When she refused to answer, he slapped her across the face. "Sie antworten, wenn gesprochen, bitch (You will answer when spoken to, bitch)."

She shook as she answered, "My father taught me." She could dimly recall having heard his voice before. In flashes, the events of early this morning caught up with her. She remembered sitting by the river, then hearing noises then-

The man frowned and reached out. Chris didn't have to wonder for too long as to his intentions when he wrapped his fingers around her throat and squeezed. "Sie sprechen kein Englisch (You will not speak English)," he said, adding pressure with each word.

Her throat was being crushed, she could barely breathe and the soldier knew it. He released her after a few seconds, knowing that she got the message. That's it. He was the man who had snuck up on her and knocked her out. She had been taken prisoner by the Germans. She reached up to massage her throat, wondering what they were going to do to her.

"Sie wundern sich wahrscheinlich, wie sie hierher gekommen (You are probably wondering how you got here)," he began as he examined his gun. He set it down on the table and continued to talk. "Die andere Nacht, nahm einige Ihrer Soldaten zwei unserer Männer und tötete ein Drittel. Wir entschieden uns für den gleichen letzten Nacht zu tun. Doch unsere Pläne geändert, nachdem wir Ihre Seite des Flusses erreicht (The other night, some of your soldiers took two of our men and killed a third. We decided to do the same last night. However, our plans changed after we reached your side of the river.)."

If she wasn't so frightened, she would have found the idea ironic. Her boys were going to make a second crossing because who would be stupid enough to try for another snatch the night after the first? The Germans apparently thought, who would believe them stupid enough to attack the Americans the night after they had been attacked? Wouldn't that have been a nasty little surprise if her boys had actually been ordered to go on the patrol. She was forcefully snapped out of her thoughts when he began speaking again.

He looked at her as he began taking off his outer layers. "Wir haben Ihnen. Wenn wir mit unserem Plan fort, war es sehr wahrscheinlich, dass einige von uns getötet werden würde. Es gab auch die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass selbst wenn wir es durch die Nacht unversehrt, so könnten wir es nicht geschafft wieder mit jedem Gefangenen, warum also die Mühe? Sie hatten Recht es für die Aufnahme und man konnte zwei Zwecken dienen. Erstens würden die Amerikaner verlieren ihren hübschen Arzt. Zweite (We found you. If we continued with our plan, it was highly likely that some of us would be killed. There was also the probability that even if we made it through the night unscathed, we might not make it back with any prisoners, so why bother? You were right there for the taking and you could serve two purposes. First, the Americans would lose their pretty doctor. Second)," his smile was evil and caused Chris to start backing away, "Zweitens könnten sie uns etwas unterhaltung, während wir hier stecken bist (Second, you could provide us some entertainment while we're stuck here)."

He followed Chris and kept walking when she finally hit the wall. He pressed up against her and whispered into her ear, "Und ihre arbeit beginnt jetzt (And your job begins right now)."

Christine shuddered at the feel of his breath against her skin. Her skin crawled where he touched her.

123

An hour after he had stepped into the room, he left her lying naked on the floor. A bruise had formed where he slapped her and where he had chocked her. The only thing he hadn't ripped from her body was her dog tags. He got a sick pleasure from using them to choke her as punishment for speaking in English when she screamed at him to stop. He had also seemed to enjoy watching the tears stream down her face when she found that she wasn't strong enough to push him away. He had a few inches and over thirty pounds on her; there was no way she would have won with brute force.

Christine dried her tears and crawled to where her clothes had been carelessly thrown. Slowly she pulled on her clothes and made her way to the window. 'I don't care if I'm three stories up, I'll jump. I have to get out of here,' she thought.

The window was nailed shut. She couldn't open it. "What am I going to do?" she whispered, sliding down the wall. She sat there, holding her head in her hands, sobs wracking her body.

A little while later, a voice called her back into the room. "Hier ist etwas zu essen. Karl will nicht, dass seine kleine hure zu verhungern, so essen (Here is some food. Karl doesn't want his little whore to starve, so eat)," the man ordered.

He set the tray down on the table and left the room, locking it behind him with a click. A click. That means the door had a lock on it. Was she really locked in here? Chris rose and walked, cautiously, to the door and tried the handle. It wouldn't open. They had put the locking side of the handle on the opposite side of the door, allowing it to be locked from the outside. 'I guess they don't want their prisoner just waltzing out of here,' she mused. There wasn't any way to open the lock from the inside so she walked to the table. There wasn't too much food on the tray and it looked as bad as the soldier's rations. Apparently the Germans were as bad off as the Americans.

Even though she was hungry, she refused to eat the food. 'Starving to death would be better than being in the hands of the Germans,' she thought, sitting down in a chair. This led her to wonder about her future. She highly doubted that the Germans would let her go, no matter what she said or did. In reality, they would probably use her until they tired of her and then they would kill her. She knew that her future was bleak, with no hope. 'At least I will be able to see Mom and Dad again,' she thought, glum. 'I won't have to watch more people die, I won't have to hear that one of my friends was killed, like Skip or Penkala.'

She paused after that thought, a bright thought trying to form. 'No,' she thought, dashing any traces of hope, 'they won't come rescue me. How stupid would that be? The risk is too high for retrieving a simple nurse. I don't even know where I am, so how could they? Besides, if they didn't go after Bull when he was left in Holland, they wouldn't come for me.' And that was that. There was no hope for a rescue, no hope for survival. She would be tortured for a while longer then put out of her misery.

An hour later, another man came in, presumably to take her empty tray. "Was ist das? Warum haben sie nicht gegessen (What's this? Why haven't you eaten)?" Chris turned her head and didn't answer. The man grew angry and stalked over to where she was sitting. "Wenn sie nicht essen will, werde ich das essen in den hals kraft (If you will not eat, I will force the food down your throat)," he snarled.

Chris didn't move, head still turned away from him. He roughly grabbed her chin and yanked her head around to face him. He pried her mouth open and quickly forced some food into it. He kept her mouth shut until she swallowed and repeated the process until the tray was empty. He straightened up and grabbed the now empty tray. "Siehe, das war nicht so schwer, jetzt war es? Das nächste mal aber werde ich nicht so sanft (See, that wasn't so hard, now was it? Next time, though, I won't be so gentle)," he warned before leaving.

Time seemed to inch by in her prison. All she had to occupy her mind was her memories. Occasionally her thoughts drifted toward what would be her inevitable demise, but they didn't stay there too long. What was the point of thinking about it if there was nothing she could do? That was in her nature: she could accept reality easily and go about her normal routine with minimal change. There was no fighting what was bound to happen. The only time she fought was when she was being a nurse and trying to save someone's life.

Another meal was brought to her. The soldier who delivered the tray was the same man who had forced her to eat earlier. He leaned in close to her and whispered down to her, "(I hope you don't eat this time, because I'm looking forward to having some fun with you)". Chris shivered in horror and in fear, but otherwise refused to acknowledge his presence. The man chuckled on his way out.

Yet again, Chris refused to eat, hoping that they might decide that she was too much trouble and just kill her. She was disappointed when that soldier came back in with lust and excitement exuding from his body. When he reached out and caressed her cheek, she screamed, "Don't touch me, filthy German scum!"

With no wasted time, his hands were around her throat. "Kein Englisch (No English)," he snarled, emphasizing his point with more pressure.

"Oh? Sie konnten mich nicht verstehen? Nun lassen sie mich übersetzen. Ich sagte: "Rühr mich nicht an, schmutzig deutschen Abschaum (Oh? You couldn't understand me? Well let me translate. I said, 'Don't touch me, filthy German scum)!"

He released her throat and punched her in the stomach. Chris thought she felt a rib crack. Her plan was actually working. If she made him mad enough, he might kill her and end her misery. "Bitch. Und wer sind sie gefordert deutschen Abschaum? Du siehst aus wie ein deutscher mir (Bitch. And who are you calling German scum? You look like a German to me)," he said.

He pulled out her dog tags, which he had felt while strangling her. "Hmm, mal sehen. Christine Engel. Nun, wenn das nicht deutsch dann der Führer ist ein Jude Liebhaber (Hmm, let's see. Christine Engel. Well if that's not German then the Fuhrer is a Jew lover)," he crowed.

Chris tried to push him away, with no success. "Ich bin Amerikaner (I'm an American)."

He laughed and pulled her against him. "Wir ehrlich. Du bist Deutschland. Jetzt ein gutes kleines deutsches Mädchen sein und aufhören zu kämpfen (Face it. You're German. Now be a good little German girl and stop struggling)," he ordered. Of course this made her struggle harder, but that made no difference. He shoved the food down her already abused throat and had his way with her. He left her, crumpled on the bed, a little while later with an empty tray in his hands and smile on his face.

The soldier hadn't been gone for too long before the first man, 'Karl,' she thought, recalling him called as such by another man, returned. "Komm mit mir (Come with me)," he ordered, roughly pulling her out of the room. He led her down the hall and opened a door. It was a bathroom. He nodded for her to go in, so she did.

When she finished, she came back out and Karl grabbed her arm again to escort her back to her room. He called to someone down the stairs that she suddenly noticed across from her room. He shoved her inside and a minute later, food came.

Karl sat down in a chair and looked between Christine and the food that was lying on the table. He made it clear that he wasn't leaving until she ate. Reluctantly, she sat down and began to eat. It would only hurt more if she tried to resist. Obviously, they weren't going to kill her because she tried to starve herself so she might as well eat on her own.

123

It was dark once again and Christine had been left alone. 'I guess they don't want me to die too soon. It appears that I got three meals today and I can use an actual flushing toilet, so it seems that I'm being spoiled.' She was exhausted, all of the stress and fear from the past few days catching up to her. She looked wearily over at the bed but she refused to sleep in it, remembering what had taken place on it earlier that day. Instead, she grabbed the pillow and blanket that had been thoughtlessly tossed onto the ground and pulled them over to a corner.

Chris set the pillow down and curled up into a ball under the thin, scratchy blanket. "I want my Mom and my Dad. I want to go home. I wish this stupid war never happened," she choked out. She longed for the feel of her parents' embrace, soothing and secure. She thought of her parents, then she thought of her friends. Her parents, she could face; her friends, not so much. What would they think if they found out how tainted she was? Her mind flooded with images of the men she had survived with for the past few months, all of them with looks of revulsion, all directed at her.

The only ones who knew of her dirty past were Gene, Joe, Dick, Nix, Ron and Buck. Buck was back in the States, probably trying to forget anything that has to do with this ugly war. Ron, Nix, and Dick had bigger things to worry about than her and would discard her as useless if they saw her again. Gene, sweet, kind, gentle Gene. She wouldn't be able to face him and let her impurities infect him. And Joe. Joe with his crooked smile, his sarcastic comments, his warm body and his even hotter temper. Joe with his intense hatred for Germans, for the men who held her captive. "Joe . . ." she muttered before falling asleep.

123

Surprisingly, she made it through the night undisturbed. Well, from the human variety anyways. Her nightmares had come back with a vengeance. Her day was much the same as yesterday: food, bathroom breaks, and the various abuse. By lunch, she had given up on speaking English; it was too painful to be repeatedly chocked with her dog tags. When she was escorted back from the restroom the first time, the man taking her hadn't been holding her arm. She ran for the stairs. The man was quick, though, and caught her before she got too far. He yanked her so hard back up the steps that she tripped and fell, hurting her legs, and then he threw her back into her room. Bruises formed not too long afterwards and it hurt to stand so she spent most of the day sitting.

When the sitting became too much and she had to stand up, pain be damned, Chris hobbled over to the window. Chris didn't know what she expected to see, but the river definitely wasn't it. She stood there and gaped. Upon further observation, she could just make out some familiar buildings, American-occupied buildings. Maybe there was hope for escape after all.

Chris had been so engrossed with staring at the world outside of her prison that she hadn't heard the soldier enter her room. She didn't make a sound when he drug her from the window by her hair. She didn't fight him the whole time he was there. Before, she would do whatever she could to attempt to escape and aggravate her captors in the hopes of them killing her, but now she had hope. Hope was a dangerous thing, but she was human and couldn't help but cling to it.

That night, she plotted her escape. Voices could be heard outside her door, so she would have to wait until the Germans left. She was going to take one of the chairs and use it to break the window. If any of her captors were around, they would hear the glass break and come running. That is why she would have to be patient a little longer. But, if she did actually manage to break the window, she would have to drop from the second story window and pray that she didn't injure herself to the point of not being able to run to safety. If, by some miracle she was able to survive the fall, she would have to swim across the river. Through her whole plan, she would have to make it to safety before she got shot, either by a German or an American. And then, finally, if she made it into the hands of the American forces, she would be safe. The plan was risky, but it's not like she had much choice.

Chris refused to think about what she would do after she made it to safety. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go back to Easy Company and face the shame of owning up to what she has been through. She couldn't imagine the disgust in Joe's eyes when he found that she had been kept and used by the Germans. He hated the Germans with a passion and she would have them on her. Chris fell into an uneasy sleep, her last thoughts revolving around a certain hot-headed Jew.

123

_Febraury 13, 1945_

When Chris woke up, she didn't know what time it was. It looked to be a little after dawn. She wasn't sure how long she had been in German hands, but by counting the meals, if she really was fed three times a day, then this would be the third day. If she strained her ears, she could hear the soldiers talking downstairs. Most of it was useless information, but hopefully they would mention a time that they had to leave.

Later that afternoon, still half-heartedly listening to any conversations below, she got her wish. A soldier came into the house, telling the group that they were needed for a meeting and had to leave shortly. When the messenger left, two soldiers started arguing. The first man said someone should stay behind to keep an eye on the prisoner. The second man argued that the prisoner was locked in, there was no need to keep an eye on her. Unfortunately, they lowered their voices and Christine was unable to hear the outcome.

No soldiers or one soldier staying behind, it didn't matter. She would make her escape tonight. Listening carefully, she was able to hear the men pack up some of their things to leave. She heard them exit the house. When the door slammed closed, the house was quiet. Now was the time to act.

Chris scrambled to the closest chair and drug it to the window. She lifted it and using all of her strength, hurled it into the window. The glass shattered into tiny pieces, falling, floating to land on the floor and on the ground far below. Her heart was racing and it's beat was drowning out all other sound. She grabbed the sill, not noticing the remaining glass that bit into her palms, and hoisted herself up. She jumped and rolled with the landing, hopefully minimizing damage. Her legs were jarred from the impact, but nothing too bad. Her boots prevented her feet from exposure to the shards of glass on the ground.

There was a shout and she looked up. It was Karl. Apparently he had gotten permission to stay behind and ran up to check on the prisoner when he heard the sound of breaking glass. He found a broken window and an empty room so he raced over to the window and saw the prisoner about to run.

Chris ran as fast as she could on her still very sore legs. She could hear footsteps behind her, but she refused to look back. It didn't matter. He caught up with her quickly. It was almost dark as the soldier carried Christine back to her prison over his shoulder. He roughly threw her on the ground and watched her cower in fear.

Her mind was blank. That was her only chance of escape and it failed. Now, they would either kill her or keep her heavily guarded. There was no more hope. She took the kicks he aimed at her, only letting loose the softest of moans to indicate her pain. She swallowed a scream when he stomped on her feet with his boots. Her boots did little to lessen the blows and she feared he might of broken something.

After an eternity, he stopped, out of breath and looked down at her. Christine stayed still, in fear of incurring his wrath once again. She shivered under his gaze and he smiled, thinking of what he was going to do to her.

Chris started to struggle when she felt him begin to remove her clothes. Karl, deciding he was tired of dealing with her, kicked her in the head. She stopped moving and he proceeded with his original intent.

After her head was kicked, Christine saw the room grow brighter. The illumination went well beyond the capacities of the single light bulb in the room. She was dimly aware of Karl shedding his own clothes. Instead, her focus was on the figure that was coming into focus. The clearer it became, the more Karl and the room disappeared. Shock ripped through her. It was a figure dressed in a robe, bringing with it a sense of eternal peace. It was Death. He had come to find his little, hard-working Angel and take her away from all of the pain of this life. Chris let out a sigh of relief; she was ready to go. He held out his hand, waiting to take her to her new life.

Chris started to reach towards him when there was a yell. The sound of gunfire and a slammed door seemed to physically tear through the room and distort her vision. Chris tried to scream, to beg, anything to go with Death as the room darkened to its original brightness. Her door was forced open and all Chris saw were men coming to do her more harm, so she scooted backwards and screamed. "NEIN! Bitte, lass mich in ruhe. Tu mir nicht weh mehr. Bitte, gehen sie einfach (NO! Please, just leave me alone. Don't hurt me anymore. Please, just go)," she begged, trying to escape the advancing figures.

It was too much. Her head had been bleeding, she realized as the blood ran into her mouth. 'That's ok,' she thought, her mind slowing and body feeling sluggish, 'Mom and Dad can fix me up.' Just as the darkness consumed her, she heard her name being called from far away. "Chris." She closed her eyes a final time and went off to find her parents in the hopes of being united with them once again.

_Author's Note: Sorry it's so short and has a lot of German in it. I wanted to have a chapter solely on Christine's experience. The next chapter is dedicated to the boys of Easy. Please review._


	17. Where's Our Nurse?

_Author's Note: This will start on the morning of the patrol that never happened._

_February 11, 1945_

The sun had begun to rise and the rays that trickled in through the window woke Eugene Roe. Gene sleepily rubbed his eyes and sat up. Spina was softly snoring away and Chris . . . Gene looked over to her bed and frowned when he saw it was empty. He stared at the rumpled sheets then shrugged. 'She's probably out talkin' to some o' the boys.'

Gene walked out of OP2 confused. He had just seen every man from Easy Company, but he hadn't seen their nurse. And if that wasn't bad enough, when he discreetly asked some of the others if they had seen her this morning, they responded in the negative. Everyone he asked had looked as worried as he felt when he told them that he also hadn't seen her since the previous night. Gene even asked Captain Speirs, who also kept tabs on the nurse, but was only met with a hard stare. The only man he hadn't asked who might know was Liebgott: Gene hadn't wanted to start a panic.

"Hey, Doc," a voice called out. While Gene was trying to figure out how he could have missed seeing Christine, he failed to notice Joe trailing after him.

Gene paused and waited for Joe to catch up to him, praying that he didn't ask him about Chris. "What it is, Joe?"

"You seen Chris? She hasn't been by this morning and it's already lunch time." Joe was looking at Gene the whole time, trying to gauge the medic's reactions to his words. Doc had looked a little worried when he came in earlier to talk to Babe and Malarkey and he had purposely avoided Joe, making the man suspicious. If there was something going on with Chris, he wanted to be the first to know.

God damn it. Gene noticed Joe watching him, analyzing his reactions. He looked at Joe and replied, uncomfortably, "No I haven't. Woke up this mornin' and her bed was empty." Gene saw Joe's face harden and his eyes grow wild and hurried on, "She's probably been out, walking around, s'all. No need to worry yet. She'll come back to eat and we'll see her soon." 'I hope,' Gene added silently with a grimace.

"You mean, you think she's been out walking this whole time by herself? And no one's seen her? Yeah, that's fucking likely," Joe spat at the poor medic. While Gene personally agreed, he tried his best to calm the other man. Joe just brushed him off and headed over to demand that the officers do something. Gene hurried after him, hoping that Chris would turn up.

"What do you want, Liebgott?" Winters asked as Joe stalked into the room. All of the officers had been gathered in the front room, and they fell silent as Joe stormed in and Gene silently follow him.

"Yes, we know that her location is unknown," Nix wearily said before Joe had the chance to say anything. He had a pretty good guess as to why Joe had come marching in.

"So then what are you going to do about it?" Joe asked all of the men there. Because of course, something had to be done.

"What can we do if we don't know why she isn't here?" Welsh asked in response. That's true. They couldn't do anything if they didn't know the reason for her disappearance.

Winters looked between the men gathered around him. Nix looked mildly concerned, as did Harry. Lip's face held a more serious look of concern. Even though Speirs kept his face blank, it was obvious that he, too, was worried that Chris was nowhere to be found. Gene's whole being radiated concern, probably from the many hours he spent searching for the girl this morning. Lastly, Winters' gaze fell to Joe. Joe was worried to the point that he was starting to panic and become very angry, as per normal Joe behavior.

To be honest, Winters had grown concerned after Doc came by to tell them that Chris seems to have disappeared. The rest of the morning, Winters had been trying to come up with ideas as to where she might be. "Maybe she was up early this morning and a soldier was wounded and she had to accompany him to the hospital. The hospital's all the way in Paris, so it would take awhile to drive there, drop off the soldier, and find a ride back," he suggested.

Harry looked up at him, confused. "But she's not supposed to go to a hospital unless one of us is with her. No one's missing, right, Doc?" He addressed the last part to Doc.

Doc shook his head. "Right, everyone in Easy is here, but if it was bad, she might have taken a soldier from another company, or taken no one else at all."

Speirs finally spoke up. "But no one has said anything about a soldier getting wounded today." Joe and Doc were becoming increasingly concerned as the talk continued. Did she really leave without telling them? And if she did, would she come back?

"Fellas, why don't we give her a day to come back before we decide anything. Knowing her, she'd probably stay at the hospital for a little bit to help them out before returning," Lip said, trying to appease the men.

"Sure thing, Lieutenant," Doc said, grabbing Joe's arm to lead him out.

Joe gave the officers one last, hard look before allowing Doc to pull him out. Once they were outside, Joe pulled his arm from Doc's grasp, causing Doc to stop and look at him. Doc read him like a book. "Look, Joe, just wait till tomorrow. Winters and Lip are probably right, and she's just at the hospital. Nothin' to worry about," he said soothingly.

Joe exploded. "Nothing to worry about? No one was injured this morning! She wouldn't be at the hospital. She's gone, Doc!" Joe roughly pulled the cigarette from behind his ear and lit it, taking a long drag.

Gene sighed. It was difficult to argue against the thoughts he himself was thinking. "No one that we know about. Just give it a day, Joe. You know that she wouldn't just take off. She's lost without us, I saw it the day we got here. She'll be back."

Joe merely shook his head and walked off, throwing his cigarette onto the ground. Gene gave another sigh before walking off, destination unknown.

123

"She's not back yet," Joe growled to no one in particular. It was ten o'clock at night and Chris still hadn't returned. He was ready to go shoot something or someone. All day he had nervously milled about in an effort to vent his worries. Webster had tried to initiate a conversation only to be rudely shut down and told to "fuck off". Others, specifically higher ranking others, were dismissed with a little more respect, but not much.

Walking out and slamming the door behind him, Joe went off to find Doc. Doc was behind the medic's house, smoking. Joe sat down beside him and lit up his own cancer stick. The two soldiers sat there, backs resting against the wall, in companionable silence. Both had spent the afternoon with their minds revolving around a certain cheerful nurse.

Doc ground out the stub of his last cigarette and stood up. He turned and offered his hand to Joe. "You need to turn in. It's after midnight," Doc said, looking down at Joe.

Joe looked back up at Doc, face void of emotions. The look Doc gave him didn't leave room for argument. He grasped Doc's hand and pulled himself up.

Doc nodded and said, "Now go get some sleep. Chris'll turn up tomorrow." Neither man said anything as they walked off, neither wanting to voice their fears that something bad might have happened to her.

123

By the next day, all of the men in Easy Company who were close to Christine started to grow very concerned and it was evident to any who saw them. Because there weren't any orders, the men were supposed to be relaxing before moving out to Mourmelon, but they just couldn't relax when they hadn't seen their nurse.

Webster, having known the men before Bastogne (and consequently before they knew Chris) was puzzled by the change in attitude. Sure, she might have been fun to have around, but she was like a replacement, she wasn't Toccoa and shouldn't have such an effect on the guys. In the few days he had known her, it was evident that she had the trust and respect of the men and he wanted to know why she was such a big deal.

First Webster tried asking some of the guys in 2nd platoon. They wouldn't say too much, other than how great she was, her wonderful nursing skills and beautiful smile, things like that. Remembering Joe's terrible mood the day before, Webster decided to steer clear of the man. Babe was actually the only one to give him more than a couple of sentences.

"Yeah, she's something else," Babe began. "I remember, we had no idea what to think when Winters showed up with her and Captain Speirs. We were all excited to have a real CO, instead of Foxhole Norman and then all of a sudden, she shows up, face colored with fading bruises and a bandage around her head. But our curiosity got the better of us and she took to us. From the start, she was sweet, polite, caring. She became like a mother, a little sister, and a friend, all rolled into one. She was constantly looking out for us, trying her best to keep us alive and sane. It was as if instead of getting winter clothing and more food and ammo, we got an angel."

Babe had chuckled with that last part and Webster couldn't help but smile: the description seemed fairly accurate. Then Babe's face had a look of regret. "I was sharing a foxhole with this kid, Julian, and we had gotten pretty close. Well, one day, we went on patrol and Christine had snuck along. Julian had gotten shot, right in the throat and fell. It was impossible to reach him without getting shot and we had to leave him. Anyways, I blamed Chris, even though it wasn't her fault and treated her like shit. I even yelled at her. I was horrible to her for a whole day, even though she already felt like crap, yet, when I went to apologize, she forgave me. Just like that. Even stayed with me that night and she's never brought it up again."

Babe finished his story, letting the memories wash over him. He gave a small smile and looked at Webster. "Yeah, she's pretty amazing. That's just the way she is."

"So, where do you think she is?" Webster asked.

Babe looked worried when he answered. "I don't know, but I wish she would hurry up and come back soon."

"Do you think she left. Maybe got tired of all this and just took off?" Webster probed.

Now Babe looked angry. "No! She wouldn't do that. She hates not being with us and wouldn't voluntarily leave. Something must have happened . . ."

Babe looked so concerned and lost that Webster dropped the subject and left thinking, 'Well, for their sakes, I hope she returns soon.'

Babe went off in search of Doc. The poor medic was worse off than the rest of them, excluding Joe. He refused to go see if Speirs was in a terrible mood also; he probably was so no need to check. He found Gene staring out a window, out of touch with the rest of the world. The rest of the day, the two men would alternate between pacing and gazing out the window, searching for their nurse.

Eventually Joe joined them. Joe looked horrible. He had bags under his eyes and his skin was even paler than usual. All three of them paced with worry and as the sun's light dimmed, their worry increased. That night, none of them slept for more than an hour at time before waking up to look out the window.

_February 13, 1945_

The next day passed much like the previous: concern manifesting as short tempers, pacing, etc. It was a bit like the week before Christmas in Bastogne while Chris was at the hospital. Nixon had just found out that they would be leaving Hagenau in a few days and there was still no sign of the nurse.

It was late morning when there was some excitement. Cobb had been drinking and had wandered over to the table where Webster, Martin, Skinny and Grant were sitting. The men were quietly talking about the nurse and trying to figure out what happened to her. "Well maybe she finally realized how crappy her new job was and decided to go back to work in a hospital," Cobb interjected.

The conversation ceased, allowing the men to address the drunken soldier. "That would never happen! Besides the fact that she would never leave us, she would have told someone that she was transferring and she didn't," Grant argued.

Cobb took another swig of his drink before answering. "Heh, she's probably so sick and tired of all the waiting and patching us up after patrols that she ran as fast as she could."

"Hey, Cobb, shut up. I thought I've told you, it's boring. We already know how you feel and we all feel the same. But not Chris, so shut up. If you're gonna drink, do it elsewhere. We're sick and tired of your complaining," Martin said before turning back around.

Cobb scoffed, but left. Webster noted with interest how the other three men tensed when Cobb suggested that Christine had deserted them. Cobb wasn't the only one who thought that, but the men of Easy Company refused to let such things be said.

123

Dusk was approaching as Bull walked around the outer edges of the town. He was looking over the river, at the German side, thinking about the past two and a half years, and all he had been through.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bull saw something sparkle, like glass catching and reflecting the light. He turned his head and saw a figure drop from a window, reddish-blonde hair streaming. The figure reached the ground and straightened. Bull's eyes widened with recognition then shock: It was Christine! Before he could call out, though, he heard a yell. A man's face appeared in the window she had jumped from and seemed to be trying to call her back. Chris ignored him and ran, or rather, limped away.

Bull started to move towards the riverbank but froze when he saw the man that had appeared in the window, rush out the door and run towards Chris. Bull knew that he wouldn't reach her in time to be of any help, but he needed to stay and see what happened next. He watched with horror as the man easily caught up to her and slung her over his shoulder. The man carried her back into the house and slammed the door.

Finally, Bull was able move again. He headed off to go find the newly appointed Majors Winters. Bull ran through the streets, asking for the Major. Finally, Luz was able to point him in the right direction.

"What's da matter, Bull?" Luz asked. Bull pushed him out of the way and headed off at a fast walk.

"Major Winters. Major Winters, sir." Bull came to a halt as Winters turned to face him.

"Yes, what is it?" Winters was a little apprehensive. He didn't want to think of what could get Bull so jumpy.

"I just saw Christine, sir," Bull replied.

Winters quickly looked around to make sure no one was paying attention, then grabbed Bull's arm and roughly pulled him into an empty room. Winters shut the door, hard, then turned to face Bull once again. "Now what did you just say?"

"I said that I just saw Christine, sir."

"You saw her? Where?" he asked.

Bull hesitated a little. "On the other side of the river, sir."

"On the other side of the river?" Winters repeated, confused. Bull nodded. "You better tell me the whole story then," he said with a sigh.

As Bull told Winters what he saw, Winters' mind was racing. It seems that Christine somehow ended up in the hands of the Germans, and was now a prisoner. They needed to get her back, but Winters wasn't quite sure how. If certain people found out about this, they would go charging straight across the river and try to take down the whole German army by themselves. No, this would have to be kept under wraps. WInters looked up from his musings to see Bull standing, attempting to look patient, waiting for orders. "You know what building it is?"

"Yes, sir. Just across the outskirts of town. I'd be able to spot it from either side of the river, sir," Bull answered.

Winters paused again to think. He could send out a small team, maybe three people. If the building she was being held in was away from other occupied buildings, three people could work. But who to send? Bull, obviously. He's the only who knows which building and he found her in the first place. Now the other two needed to be experienced, but calm or unattached. Lip would be a good choice, he was a good leader. And . . . Webster. "Ok, Bull. Get Webster and bring him back here. And make sure to be discreet. No one else is to know what's going on," he ordered.

Bull nodded and went off to retrieve Webster. Winters left to find Lip. Thankfully, Speirs wasn't around. If Speirs found out that he knew where Chris was, he would likely go and storm the building on his own. Winters whispered into Lip's ear and they headed off to go meet Bull and Webster.

"Ok," Winters started, "We know where Christine is. She is being held in a building on the other side of the river. You three are going to go over there and get her. We still have a boat from the patrol the other night and you'll use that to get across. You'll go into the building, get Christine, and leave. Don't attract attention. Got it?" he asked. When he received three nods, he nodded in return. "Ok, let's go."

The group headed to the building that the boats were stored in. As discreetly as possible, they grabbed one and took it to the outskirts of town. The river was very peaceful tonight. They got into the boat and Winters pushed them off. Winters settled against a tree and waited for them to return with their nurse. He hated the feeling that overtook him, the helplessness that came with waiting, but sat nonetheless.

123

The boat slid silently across the water and Bull jumped out to drag it onto the shore so it wouldn't float away. Lip and Webster stepped out and all three carefully advanced towards their target. Even though it was dark, they went slowly and kept an eye out for any Germans. They made it to the building unnoticed.

Lip nodded and Bull busted the door down. Webster and Lip ran in, guns ready. There was one man coming down the stairs and Webster shot him before he had a chance to yell. Lip pointed to Webster then to one side of the building and gestured for Bull to follow him. They checked to make sure that no one else was on this floor, then they waited by the stairs to see if anyone came running down after hearing a gunshot.

No one came. In the back of his mind, Bull knew that Christine must either be injured or tied up, otherwise she would have come. The man probably hurt her for trying to escape, he thought with a grimace.

The three men crept up the stairs. Lip was in the lead and he paused when he reached the top of the stairs. There was a room right across the hall and the open door revealed Christine, naked, bloody and bruised, unmoving, on the floor. Lip ran in and the other two followed, slowly at first, then quickly when seeing the reason for the Lieutenant's rush.

Once all three of them were in the room, Chris stirred. Lip walked towards her and then she jumped up and screamed. "NEIN! Bitte, lass mich in ruhe. Tu mir nicht weh mehr. Bitte, gehen sie einfach," she repeated. Blood was running down the side of her face. There were fading bruises on her face and fresh ones everywhere else on her body.

They all stopped in their tracks. Lip, without turning from Christine, asked Webster, "What's she saying, Web?"

Webster looked a little lost, his brain scrambling to translate what the girl was saying. "Uh, she's saying, 'NO! Please, just leave me alone. Don't hurt me anymore. Please, just go."

Just as Webster finished telling the others what she said, Chris crumbled to the floor. "Chris!" Lip yelled, fearful.

_Author's Note: And now we are back on track, two stories on the same page. Please review._


	18. A Not So Secret Past

_Author's Note: Seriously, thank you to everyone who reads this story and thank you to the reviewers._

Recap:

Webster looked a little lost, his brain scrambling to translate what the girl was saying. "Uh, she's saying 'NO! Please, just leave me alone. Don't hurt me anymore. Please, just go."

Just as Webster finished telling the others what she said, Chris crumbled to the floor. "Chris!" Lip yelled, fearful.

He rushed over to her and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that she was still breathing. He shrugged off his coat and used it to cover her. The wound on the side of her head had stopped bleeding. Lip guessed that she had passed out from the pain of the wounds that seemed to cover her body or maybe from a lack of oxygen, as he saw the bruises that covered her neck.

Bull and Webster were standing just inside the door, shocked. Webster's mouth was open; he couldn't believe that the bright, young girl that he met a few days ago was passed out on the floor, bruised and bleeding. Bull wore a look of shocked horror, unable to tear his eyes away from the nurse that so many of them have come to love over the last few months.

"Come on, boys. We found what we were looking for. Let's go," Lip ordered, his voice shaking with rage as he carefully picked up the girl. He had a pretty good idea as to what Christine had been through and it made him furious. Right now, Lip_ really_ wished he had been the one to kill the man that had been coming down the stairs and maybe any other man who had set foot in this house. Bull was having similar thoughts.

Bull and Web moved out of the house first and Lip followed, cradling Chris close. Luckily, no one had heard their confrontation with the soldier earlier and they made it back to the boat unnoticed.

123

Winters had been drumming his fingers against his thigh, waiting to see some sign of the three-man squad. He had watched them get in the boat, float across the river, and disappear into a building with his binoculars. They were in the house for maybe ten minutes, but to a desperate and waiting man, it felt like ten hours.

Finally, finally, he saw people exiting the building. They were running towards the riverbanks and the last figure was carrying something! They found her! Winters urged them on quietly, sending his will power to help them cross the river faster. He ran down to the boat just as it landed.

"How is she?" Winters asked, moving out of the way as Bull and Webster pulled the boat to shore.

Bull grimaced and Webster cast his eyes to the ground. Lip frowned as he got out of the boat, still holding Christine. "It doesn't look good, sir," he answered honestly.

Winters stared at Christine's face. He could see it was multi-colored even in the dark: pale from blood loss; red from the blood that had run down her face; and purple/blue from a large bruise on her cheek. Looking further down, he saw that the only things she had on her were her dog tags and a jacket. 'Lipton's,' Winters mused, seeing that Lip was missing his. Shaking his head, he turned and told Lip, "Let's get her over to Doc. Randleman, Webster, take that boat back."

Lip and Winters ran towards the medic's house, praying that Doc was there. They burst in the back door and started looking for the Cajun's familiar raven head. Lip looked in the first door and ducked into the room. Spina was out but Doc and Babe were sitting around. Babe had brought out some cards but neither man had felt inclined to do much more than stare at the deck.

As soon as Lip came into the room carrying Chris, Babe and Doc jumped up and Doc ushered Lip towards the table. Doc cleared the table with a sweep of his arm and didn't even wait for Lip to set Chris down before he started checking her injuries. He took in her broken and naked appearance and became enraged.

Grabbing her head, Doc examined the cut on the right side of her face. It wasn't bleeding so he moved on. Her cheek had a fading bruise: it looked like someone had hit her a couple of times. He listened to her breathing and frowned even deeper when he heard her shaky breathing. The bruising on her throat and rib cage could explain that.

Doc looked at the darker, odd-shaped bruises on her neck. The darker bruising looked like someone had tried strangling her with their hands, but the older bruises were thin lines. Doc was about to touch them, but pulled his hand back, remembering what happened the last time he tried to touch a bruise on her when she was unconscious. Instead, he opted to carefully lift her dog tags up. He placed them over the line-like bruises and found that they fit.

"Those bastards chocked her wit' her tags," he muttered. Lip and Babe looked at him in surprise. They, along with Winters, had been quietly watching Doc work, were holding their breath. Doc continued his examination when voices drifted into the room from the hall. Winters hated how helpless he felt, just standing there.

123

Bull and Webster hustled the boat back to the shed. They were now making their way towards the building housing medics but ran by a group of their buddies, smoking and sitting on some rubble. "Where's the fire?" Malarkey asked.

"Not a fire. Christine," Bull said without stopping. The men looked at one another before jumping up and following Webster and Bull. Bull didn't look happy and that worried the men. As they were going, Webster told them the short version of what transpired in the last hour. They charged into the building, trying to find their nurse.

Looking into the first open door, they found Winters, Lip and Babe intently watching Doc working on a body lying on the table. Rushing in, they saw it was Christine and all were shocked. The wreck on the table wasn't their nurse.

Doc had removed the jacket and was feeling her ribs and found that three of them were cracked. He didn't even look up when the men entered the room. He heard their sharp intakes of breath and could only imagine the looks of disgust, shock and pain on their faces. He also knew, by the lack of yelling or company immediately at his side, that Joe and Speirs were not present. But all of those thoughts were in the back of his mind. His main focus was on the girl lying on the table.

Doc heard Chris take a deep breath and turned his head to look at her face. Her eyes flew open and before even registering all of the bodies in the room, she sat up and began screaming. "Raus hier! Jetzt! Lassen! (Get out! Now! Leave!)"

Everyone was taken aback. Doc took a step back before moving towards her head. "Shh, it's ok," he said, trying to calm her down. The others were hesitant to move, not sure what she said. They looked to Doc for instruction, eyes modestly adverted from their naked nurse.

Christine tried to scoot back, almost off the table. Gene threw out his arm to catch her and she visibly flinched. Gene's face was puzzled as he slowly drew his arm back. Chris curled her knees to her chest. Gene could barely make out what she was saying and leaned in, but not too close. That didn't fix the problem. Gene quietly said, "English, Chris. I can't understand you. S'il vous plaît (Please)."

Chris couldn't focus on anything except the fact that there were men in the same room she was in. She saw an arm shoot out from the corner of her eye and flinched. Then she heard someone talking to her again. At first it was gibberish, but then they said something she recognized. While she was able to register the voice, she still couldn't think of anything but the other occupants of the room. "Sur. Sortez-les. S'il vous plaît (Out. Get them out. Please)," she begged.

Gene nodded. "Get out. All of you. And close the door behind you," he ordered, firmly but quietly, so as not to upset Chris. They were upset and worried, but mostly they were furious at the Germans. "And Babe," he added as an after thought, "stay outside of the door, in case I need you."

As the men filed out the door, throwing one last look over their shoulder at their crying nurse, they couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't speaking English. When she yelled at them, it sounded like German but later, Doc was able to understand her, so it must have been French. Babe, the last one out, closed the door. Even though Doc only asked for Babe to stay, none of the others left. Their nurse had been gone for days, they weren't just about to leave her.

"Okay, Chris. They left," Gene said, watching to see her reaction. Chris just continued to sob and Gene was at a loss. "What is it?" he finally asked.

Chris finally registered the smooth Southern drawl as Gene and looked up at him. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying but focused intently on Gene's eyes. She didn't say anything, just looked at him. Then, out of nowhere, she threw herself in his arms. Gene reacted out of instinct and made to wrap his arms around her but stopped when she shrunk away from his arms and shook her head. Gene slowly tried to put his arms around her again and was met with the same reaction. He finally gave up and let his arms hang uselessly at his side.

Because she was clutching at his jacket, he couldn't see too much of her and he needed to finish his examination. "Chris. Can you let go? I need to clean your head wound and finish the examination. Is that ok?"

Chris didn't respond. Gene raised a hand to gently push himself away but froze when she once again flinched. 'Those bastards really must have messed her up,' he thought as he waited for her to back up. "I need a new uniform in here," Gene called out, knowing that at least Babe would have heard him and could fetch Chris some clothes.

A few minutes passed and she finally allowed Gene to pull away. She sat up as he pulled back and she finally seemed to realize she was naked. She gasped and her eyes widened. Her arms flew to cover herself as she brought her legs up. Gene blushed and looked away. "Um, yo' head wound wasn't bleeding but I still need to clean it. Yo' throat seems to be fine, but it's bruised. Some of the ribs are cracked, but they should be fine. I didn't get to look at yo' hands or yo' feet. How do they feel?" he asked. She was a nurse, she could diagnose myself.

She started to speak, but Gene couldn't understand her so he interrupted her, "English, Chris. Or French, but I can't understand ya'."

"Mes mains ont de verre en eux et j'ai mal aux pieds. Je pense. . . Je pense qu'ils risquent d'être rompus, fortement meurtri, au mieux (My hands have glass in them and my feet hurt. I think . . . I think that they might be broken, heavily bruised at best)," she mumbled. It looked like she was going to show him her hands but stopped when she remembered that they were covering her breasts. Gene was able to see her feet and agreed with her. They were covered in painful looking bruises. What the hell happened to them?

They waited in silence. Chris refused to look at Gene and couldn't look at herself without feeling even more shame at her situation. Gene stood awkwardly a few steps away, trying to find gather the extent of damage done to her body, discreetly. But, if any of her injuries had looked serious, he would have made her allow him to treat the wounds, embarrassment be damned. "Can I at least clean the cut on your head?"

Chris shook her head. "Nein (No)."

Gene could understand that one and sighed. This was going to be hard. How could he help her if he couldn't get close to her? And what was with the German and the French? There wasn't much time to ponder these questions when they heard a yell and door slammed out in the hall. "That must be your uniform," he said.

123

The group outside the door had been waiting with baited breath when Doc said that a uniform needed to be brought in. None of them wanted to leave; they were waiting to hear how bad off their nurse was. Webster, though, while interested in hearing about Christine's condition, wanted to earn some points back with the guys. "I'll do it," he offered.

A couple of 'Thanks' were muttered and the crowd parted to let him out the back door. Webster headed over to the showers, hoping that a spare uniform would have been left out. He was in luck. There was a whole stack of clothes. Webster rifled through the stack, trying to find clothes that would fit the nurse. The boots weren't a problem: the Army only made one size.

Webster had finally found a shirt, a coat, one set of socks, a pair of trousers, and even boxers. He had just picked up the clothes and turned around to find Joe right in front of him. "Whatchya doing, Web?" Joe asked, eyeing the clothes with mild curiosity.

Joe had been staring out the window, listless, as he has been since Christine went missing when he saw Webster hurrying over to the showers. Something told him to investigate, so he went down to question Webster and found him digging through a pile of clothes.

"Um . . ." Webster wasn't sure how he wanted to answer that question. If he told Joe that they were for Chris, Joe would blow a gasket and Webster didn't want to be around for that. But, he couldn't lie to him because he had no idea what to say. And Joe wasn't very patient; he was waiting for an answer and soon he would grow annoyed enough to beat it out of him. 'Oops. Looks like we've reached that point,' Web thought, looking at Joe's face.

"Um, they're for Chris," Webster muttered before walking away. Now was not the time for confrontation.

Joe grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "Did you say Chris?" Joe was practically yelling. "Where is she?"

"Calm down, Joe."

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down! Just tell me where the fuck she is!"

"She's with Doc. They're at the medic house. Look I'm headed that way . . ." he trailed off, watching Joe run past him towards the house. Webster sighed and hurried after him.

Their destination wasn't too far away, but by the time Webster caught up to Joe, Joe was throwing open the door and yelling, "Where is she?"

123

Joe looked at the crowd gathered outside of a door. The crowd looked at him and he didn't like the anger, the regret and the concern on the other men's faces. He was about to burst into the room when an arm blocked his way. Joe's furious, chocolate brown eyes met Malarkey's.

"You can't go in there," Malarkey said. He could tell that this wouldn't end well, but damn it, Joe wasn't the only one worried about Chris.

"I'm going in there," Joe replied, not leaving room for any arguments. He resisted when Malarkey tried to pull him away.

Babe had taken the clothes from Webster while Malarkey dealt with Joe. Babe didn't want Christine to freak out again, so he knocked on the door to let Doc know that the clothes were here.

Doc and Chris both heard the knock, but neither moved. Doc finally went over to the door and cracked it open. The crowd caught his attention. "Thanks, Babe," Doc said, taking the clothes from the soldier. "But can you get them to leave? I don't want them to upset her anymore."

Babe looked at the crowd, unsure, and replied, "I can try, Doc, but I don't know. Most of the guys would just wait outside, but I dunno about Joe."

"Wait, Joe is here?" Doc asked. 'That'd explain the commotion I heard.'

"Yeah. Webster went out to get the clothes and apparently told Joe that we found Chris. Joe came storming in here, demanding to see her. Malarkey and Winters are trying to shut him up and calm him down."

"Shit," Doc swore softly. He had been hoping to have Chris back to normal before telling Joe what happened. After Christine woke up, however, Doc knew that he would have to change his plans, but he hadn't thought a new plan would be needed so quickly.

Winters pushed his way forward, trying to reach Doc. Babe had to duck so Winters could address the medic. "How bad is it?" he asked, not quite sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

Doc sent a glance toward Babe, which did not go unnoticed by the other two before answering. "I think it's like when we first found her, sir, but worse. Much worse." Doc worded his reply carefully, so as not to spill the beans too early. He knew that the others would find out soon how Christine really came to be their field nurse but he wasn't going to be the one to tell them.

Winters' heart dropped. He had feared as much when he saw her naked, apart from Lip's jacket. "Worse?" he asked, dreading the reply.

"She has multiple bruises and a nasty head wound. At least three of her ribs are cracked and her feet look bruised enough to prevent her from walking for a few days. I couldn't get close enough to look. She says that there's glass in her hands, but again, she won't let me see them yet. Won't let me touch her. She also appears to have been strangled with her dog tags. And she won't speak English, sir."

Winters knew that she had looked bad, but he had hoped it wasn't too bad. In all honesty, it could have been much worse, physically. Mentally and emotionally, that was were the problems were. "She won't speak English?"

Gene shook his head. "Not a word. First it was German, but then I finally got her speaking French. But no English. No idea why, but that's what it is. Anyways, I'm gonna go give her these and maybe convince her to let me see her hands," he said, closing the door behind him.

Babe looked up at Winters. Babe had noticed that Doc had looked at him before talking to Winters and had answered funny and Babe wanted to know why. "Sir? What did he mean when you first found her?"

Winters sighed. He had hoped that Christine would have been able to tell the others about her past when she was ready, but now, they needed to know, wether she was ready or not. "Go find Malarkey, Martin, and Randleman and have them help you gather all of Easy Company. Tell them to report immediately to CP. But leave Liebgott here. Tell him he can stay, but he has to stay out here until Doc tells him otherwise. And if you see Captain Speirs, tell him to go directly to CP. Don't say anything about Christine," he ordered before heading out.

Winters wasn't looking forward to this at all. Maybe he could get Nix to tell Ron the news. He moved through the crowd with ease and walked out. He found Nix asleep, covers half on the floor. "Wake up," he said, shaking his friend. When Nix only grunted, he added, "It's about Christine."

Quickly, Nix sat up and looked at Winters. "You found her," he said simply, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Nix noted that Winters looked troubled. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Winters refused to look Nix in the eye and Nix knew it was a bad. "The Germans had her. It looks like she was tortured, in many ways."

"You mean, it was Layman all over again?"

Winters nodded. "Yes, but only worse. She has cracked ribs and might not be able to walk for a few days. She woke up screaming at us. Doc says that she won't let him touch her and that she won't speak English."

"Shit," Nix muttered, face dropping. That was not what he wanted to hear. "Who knows?"

"A handful of men from Easy. Walk with me," Winters said. Nix hurriedly stood and pulled on his jacket and followed Winters out of the room. "Bull saw her trying to escape earlier, by the outskirts of town. He told me and I had him, Lipton, and Webster cross the river and they brought her back. We took her straight to Doc. She was unconscious so he was able to find the cracked ribs, but then she woke up. She began screaming so Doc told us to leave. We waited outside the door after that. Finally, Doc said to bring a new uniform, so Webster went out to get one. Doc came out to get the uniform and he said it was bad. We need to tell the men about Chris's past. I left Joe with Doc-"

"Wait. Who told Joe?"

"Apparently he found Webster looking for that uniform and Webster told him."

"Ooh, boy. That must've been fun. Did he break down the door?"

Winters chuckled. "No, we stopped him before that happened."

The laughter died in Nix's throat when he realized whose door they had stopped outside of. "This is Sparky's room. What are we doing here? Oh no. You mean you haven't told him? Well, look, you may be my best friend, but I am not going in there to tell him that we found Chris. He'll shoot me!"

Nix had gotten loud at the end of his rant so Winters shushed him. "You are going in with me. That's an order."

Winters knocked on the door. "Come in," was the reply that came a few seconds later. Nix looked at Winters, the question in his eyes: "Are you sure you want to do this?" Winters grimly nodded and went in.

Being the soldier that he was, Ron had jumped out of bed and saluted when Winters entered the room. "Sir."

Winters scanned the room. Speirs' gun was not in immediate reach, but Winters did not doubt that Speirs could reach it and fire it within seconds. Even though Winters couldn't see any other firearms, he would not be surprised if they were around. 'Let's do this as peacefully as possibly.'

Speirs waited patiently for the Major to speak. "Ron, we found Chris." Nix noticed Speirs clench his jaw and fists, but remain still.

Speirs wasn't stupid. The news was not good, he could tell. He just wished Winters would hurry up and tell him how bad it was so that he could go kill the scum who hurt her. Winters gave him a measuring look before continuing. "She was found on the other side of the river."

Speirs stormed out of his room, gun in hand. He had moved so fast that, even though they were expecting it, the movement caught Winters and Nixon by surprise. His mouth was set in a hard line and there was a cold fury emanating from him. 'Those bastards are going to pay,' he thought. Speirs wanted nothing more than to go kill any German he could find.

Winters cursed under his breath; he knew this was going to happen. "Speirs, wait. I said wait. Captain, you are to remain here!" he ordered. That finally got Speirs to stop moving but the hate radiating from his body did not lessen.

Nix stopped next to Winters. "Hey, at least nothing got broken-" *Crash* "I spoke too soon. At least he didn't shoot anything," Nix amended. Speirs had just thrown a table into the wall to vent some of his anger.

"Uh, sirs?" came a voice around the corner. All of Easy Company had been gathered as ordered. They had heard the crash and Martin had poked his head around to investigate. Nix and Winters had been staring at a huffing Speirs, who appeared to have just tossed the table that was now lying broken on the floor.

Speirs finally looked up at him. "What is it?"

"Easy Company is here, sir."

Speirs looked over at Winters. He could see it in his face; they were going to tell the men how Christine really came into their care. He drew a deep breath and let it out. "Are you going to tell them or shall I?" he asked.

"You will. We'll back you up, if need be," Winters answered. Truthfully, he was planning on ordering Ron to do it; to give him something to do. He was surprised at how fast Ron regained his composure. 'We'll see how long it lasts after he sees Chris,' Winters thought.

123

By now, everyone had heard that their nurse had returned and in less than perfect condition. The men who had seen her had a pretty good guess as to what happened to her and had started sharing their thoughts with the rest of the guys. Now they were all wondering why they had been called there. Babe, however, was wondering if this had anything to do with what Winters had said earlier.

Lip and Harry saw Winters, Nixon, and Speirs coming and quieted the crowd. Speirs stepped forward to address the men. "By now, I'm sure you all have heard that Christine was found. She had been kidnapped and tortured by the Germans. What you don't know, is that this isn't the first time something like this has happened to her."

All of the men were shocked. Many mouths were hanging open in shock. Others muttered curses under their breaths. What the hell did he mean that this wasn't the first time?

Speirs cleared his throat. "Do any of you remember I became your CO?" he asked. They all shook their heads no. They hadn't asked why Dike left and they hadn't cared to hear the details. They were just happy to have a real CO who was actually able to lead them. "At that time, we had a man from Dog Company helping us watch the line. Layman. Do you remember him?" More shakes of the heads. "Layman was dishonorably discharged, for the kidnapping and rape of a nurse." Gasps and growls filled the room. What kind of sick, twisted being could rape a girl?

"That nurse was found tied to a tree, in a foxhole, out in the Bois Jaques. Corporals Roe and Liebgott brought her back. Roe treated her wounds and informed Major Winters and Captain Nixon. She was brought to Colonel Sink who ordered Layman and I to his office. We listened to her recount her tale. After that Colonel Sink put me in charge of Easy because Dike had been promoted. The girl requested, and got, the job of a field nurse. She had no family, no home, and plenty of medical experience. That girl was Christine." Speirs turned away, feeling disgusted for having to relive that memory.

Now the room was ten degrees hotter than before. All of the men were ready to go strangle Layman; their blood was boiling. How dare that bastard touch their nurse! Babe had listened to the story and his horror had grown the longer Speirs had talked. Before he had finished, he had put the pieces together and knew that Speirs was talking about Chris. He felt like he was going to be sick and looking around the room, he didn't think that he was the only one feeling that way.

Nixon stepped forward. "Hey, even though you now know this, this doesn't change anything. Christine is still our field nurse, the best damned-nurse out there." He didn't want them treating the nurse poorly for what had happened to her.

"But sir," George called out. "Will she still be our nurse? Will she want to be? Why did she even request to help us in the first place?"

Everyone was thinking that. She had just been raped, how could she want to stay with a bunch of men? And besides that, how did she do it before? Though, now that they think about it, they could all remember the uneasiness that surrounded her when she first met them. For a while, she wouldn't get too close to them, and she'd flinch if they touched her. It wasn't too noticeable, so they had all forgotten, but now they remembered. The flinches, the grimaces, the fearful looks, it was all coming back.

Nix paused to think before answering the questions. "Well, she offered to help us in the first place because she had no where else to go. She also probably felt like she owed us, since Doc and Joe found her. And I hope that she'll stay with us, but honestly? I don't know if she'll leave. You are all dismissed," he finished with a wave of his hand.

It took a minute for everyone to start moving, and when they finally did, it was very slowly. They couldn't believe what they had just heard. Their beautiful, wonderful, cheerful nurse had scars much deeper than they could imagine and they had never known. The idea that she had been hurt in such a way was inconceivable, but now they found out that she had. And not only once, but twice! It would also explain the extra-protectiveness exhibited by Speirs, Liebgott and Doc. They had known her secret.

The men trickled out of CP in a zombie-like manner. What they had just been told had blown their minds. They desperately wanted to go check on her, orders be damned, but they were afraid that their presence might scare her, so they opted to head back to their bunks.

123

Gene closed the door, clothes in hand and turned to face Chris. She had jumped when she heard the knock and had wearily watched the exchange. Gene handed her the clothes and turned around to give her some privacy to change.

Chris took the clothes and set them down next to her. When Gene turned around, Chris hurriedly jumped off the table to put the clothes on. She had to grab the table as soon as she landed, because of her feet. She could stand on them, but only just. A grimace worked itself onto her face and she let out a sharp gasp of pain as she pulled on the underwear.

Gene heard her gasp and figured that her ribs were hurting her. "Do you want some bandages to wrap yo' ribs with?" he asked softly.

Christine bit her lip, weighing her options. She wouldn't be able to wrap them herself, but she wasn't ready to let him help her. She could not wrap them, but she didn't know how well she could tolerate the pain. She was going to hurt a lot anyway and wrapping her ribs could ease some of that pain. "Non, merci (No, thank you)." She'll see how far she could make it with the pain.

"Ok," he said, waiting for her to finish dressing. To save her feet, Chris hopped back on the table to pull on the shirt and jacket. She didn't say anything when she was done, so Gene just turned around when he didn't hear her move anymore. "May I clean out yo' hands now?"

"Je veux prendre une douche (I want to take a shower)."

"A shower?" Gene repeated.

Chris nodded her head. "J'ai pour frotter la sensation d'entre eux hors de moi. S'il vous plaît (I have to scrub the feel of them off of me. Please)," she added, looking at him.

Gene was worried by how empty her eyes looked. "Let me take that glass out and bandage yo' hands, then you can shower," he said, trying to compromise.

The only response he got was her holding out her hands to him. He swung a chair around so that he could sit in front of her. Gene pulled out the tweezers and bandages from his bag and set everything out as she watched him silently. When he gently grasped her hand, she initially tried to pull back. Gene let her slide her hand out of his. Chris took a deep breath, telling herself that it was only Gene and he wouldn't hurt her, and placed her hand in his waiting hands.

Gene couldn't help but show the surprise he felt; he hadn't expected her to cooperate so easily. He held her hand, like it was as fragile as the glass he was pulling out. To her credit, she only hissed when he had to dig deep in her hand to find any shards. Other than that, they sat in silence. What could be said?

Gene laid the hand he had just finished on her lap to put the tweezers and bowl of glass shards down and pick up the bandages. Chris focused all of her energy on not moving when he touched her and succeeded as he was able to pick her hand back up without her flinching. He wrapped that hand then cleaned and wrapped her other hand with no problems.

"Ok, we're all finished," Gene announced, wiping his hands on his trousers. "Do you still want a shower?"

Chris nodded. Gene looked down at her feet and saw that she hadn't put on her socks or shoes. Her feet looked terrible. "Can you walk?" he asked. It would be difficult to get there if she tried to hobble the whole way. At least the showers were close by. Chris nodded, she would try. "Ok, let's go."

Gene watched as Chris gently got down from the table. He frowned at the pained expression on her face. He didn't think that she would be able to walk out the door, much less to the showers.

Ever so slowly, they made it to the door. Gene opened it and was surprised to find Joe sitting with his back to the wall, staring at the door. "Joe?"

Joe leapt to his feet. "How is she?" he asked, trying to look around Doc to catch a glimpse of the nurse. He had been sitting there, in misery, nightmarish thoughts filling his head. He pictured Chris bleeding from multiple lacerations, tied to a chair. Chris screaming for help, gagged and pinned to a bed. Chris, unmoving, on a floor. They wouldn't leave his mind and it was driving him crazy.

Gene looked over his shoulder, but still blocked Joe. "She wants to take a shower. I don't . . . I don't know how she'll react to seeing you. She freaked out when she woke up and saw everyone."

"Like last time?"

"Worse. I can't touch her. I was barely able to clean the glass out o' her hands. Anyways, you can stay there, but if she screams, you'll have to wait with the others, wherever they are." Gene knew that it would kill Joe to leave, but he knew Joe would do it just for Christine.

Joe gulped and nodded. Gene opened the door wider and Chris slowly limped out. She looked up and saw Joe. Joe found that his throat had locked and he couldn't make a sound. Many emotions crossed her face: shame, humiliation, regret, pain, and fear. That last one tore at his heart. But she didn't say anything, she just limped on.

Joe couldn't stand seeing her pained hobble. "Chris," he said as he moved to pick her up. He froze when she flinched and tried to move away, eyes flashing with fear. Static played through his mind and he shook his head. He turned to face Doc. "You can't let her walk like this. It ain't even walking. Do something," he pleaded.

Doc nodded, agreeing. He approached Chris slowly. "You can get to the showers faster if I carry ya. Is that ok?" Chris looked at him and cautiously leaned against him, giving him permission to pick her up. Doc gingerly lifted her and headed out the door.

Joe watched the scene unfold, his heart crying out in pain. She had been afraid. Been afraid of him and it killed him. And a small part of him felt irrationally angry that she allowed Doc to help her but flinched when he came near her. It wasn't fair, but it was better than letting someone else, like Babe, get close to her.

Thankfully, they didn't see anyone on their way to the showers. Joe stopped outside while Doc carried Chris in. He set her down so that she was sitting on a bench. He grabbed some soap that was a few stalls over and set it next to her. "I'll grab you a towel."

Gene found some on the pile of clothes that Chris's uniform came from. He peeked into the shower tent before entering. Chris was sitting in the same spot, waiting for the towel. "Here ya go. Joe and I'll be outside in case you need anything."

Chris waited until he had left and secured the flap closed before undressing. Her feet really hurt when she stood to shed her pants. After she was completely undressed, she turned on the water. The hot water felt soothing on her feet. Chris picked up the soap and began scrubbing. She scrubbed so hard, her skin became red and angry. But the feel of the men was still on her and no matter how hard she scrubbed, it wouldn't come off.

Finally, Chris sank to her knees. Her feet were throbbing and her skin felt like it was on fire. She sat there, water pouring over her, and thought. Last time, with Layman, she was able to overcome the trauma quicker because she was able to separate Layman and his actions from the rest of the world. It wasn't going to be so easy this time, but she worked on it.

Eventually she got up and turned off the water. She hobbled over to the bench and sat down to dry herself off. She got up to pull up her boxers and pants. Now, the dilemma. Her ribs were aching. It would be stupid not to wrap them, but Gene didn't leave any bandages. She'd have to ask him for help. "Gene?"

"Yeah, Chris?" he called back. He and Joe had been sitting, too shocked and worried to smoke when Chris called.

"Pouvez-vous m'aider, s'il vous plaît (Can you help me, please)?" She was beginning to shake, she noticed. "Quitter qui (Quit that)," she whispered to herself.

"Is she speakin' French?" Joe asked Gene, hating that he couldn't understand her.

"Yup," he said, walking into the tent. Gene walked in to the showers, eyes on the ground. "What'd you need?"

"Pouvez-vous. . . Pouvez-vous envelopper mes côtes, s'il vous plaît (Can you . . . Can you wrap my ribs, please)?"

Gene noted how her voice shook and couldn't help but feel bad. "O'course." Gene pulled out the long roll of bandaging that he brought just in case she changed her mind. Her back was to him and her arms seemed to be crossed as she was partially-dressed. "Uh . . ." 'Guess I'll wrap her from 'round the back, then,' he thought when she didn't move.

As soon as Gene placed the end of the roll in the middle of her back, Chris uncrossed her arms and held them above her head, out of the way. 'That's progress,' he thought when she only shivered to his touch. Very carefully, he passed the bandage between his hands and around her torso. "Sorry," he muttered guiltily every time she flinched, indicating that he had accidentally touched her chest.

Five minutes later, he was done. Gene stepped back to give Christine room to put on her shirt and jacket. He didn't comment on the redness of her skin. When she was fully dressed, she gathered the towel in her arms. They walked out of the tent in silence. Joe started to move towards them, but decided to wait for them to come to him.

Christine's hair wasn't sopping wet, but it could use some more drying. Joe grabbed another towel and held it out to her. A sharp pain shot through him when she took the towel then stepped away to dry her hair. Those damn Krauts, making it so that Joe couldn't even dry her hair like he used to. They'd made her so scared she could barely stand to be around him.

It took Chris a while to dry her hair; her whole body was sore and moving hurt. She threw the towel onto the rest of the clothes and started to hobble off. Gene stepped in front of her and shook his head. "No, you're not walking back. You need to stay off yo' feet as much as possible for a few days."

Chris was too tired to fight. "D'accord (Ok)," she said and prepared herself to be carried.

Gene picked her up as gently as he could and walked off. Joe followed them and waited in the doorway when they entered the room. Gene set Christine down on the table. "I need to bandage yo' head now," he said and he did just that.

Joe walked along the wall to the single bed that he guessed was Chris's and pulled the covers back. He stepped back when Gene picked Chris up again and set her in the bed. She looked at the bed, remembering what happened the last time she was in one before shaking her head. 'Stop being stupid. Different bed, different memories. Lie down and go to sleep,' she told herself. Chris pulled the covers up around herself and closed her eyes.

The two men walked over to the table and sat in the chairs so that they could watch Chris. Chris listened to them talk quietly between themselves. The knowledge that her two best friends were watching over her eased her mind slightly and she feel into an uneasy sleep.

_Author's Note: It was kind of tough to write the men's reactions in this chapter. Please review and let me know how I did!_


	19. Relearning English

**AN: I am really sorry for the late updates. I am extremely busy so the updates will be slow. Also, thank you so much for the reviews. I read them and love them. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to respond to them, but I really do appreciate them.****  
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Chris woke with a strangled cry. She sat up and brought her knees to her chest and silently began to cry. The nightmares were horrendous.

Both Joe and Gene had refused to move from their posts and had fallen asleep in their chairs. Gene heard the sound of someone crying and opened his eyes. Pity and anger pulled at his heart. He stood and made his way to the bed. Chris hadn't noticed him. "Are you ok?" he asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

Chris felt someone touch her shoulder and jumped sideways, scrambling until she hit the wall with a thud. "I'm sorry. It's just me, Gene. I'm sorry," Gene repeated, trying to calm her down. The thud had woken Joe and he stood up, waiting to see what happened.

Chris stared at Gene for a moment, her eyes still bright and overflowing with fear. After realizing that she wasn't in any danger, she slumped a little and her eyes dimmed. She crawled back to the center of the bed and pulled the covers back over herself again, then looked at Gene.

Gene waited until she settled herself before approaching the bed. "I'm sorry. I'm here now, nothin's gonna happen to you," he reassured.

"Allez-vous rester là (Will you sit there)?" Her voice was small, and it reminded Gene of a child who had just had a nightmare, looking for comfort from a parent. Then it struck him; she was a child. The war had made her seem older, but she was only 17, just a kid.

"Yeah, I will," he said with a small smile. He pulled up his chair and sat by her bed as she closed her eyes. Joe sat back down, feeling helpless, and that was how the three spent the night.

123

The next morning, there was a knock on the door. Chris's eyes shot open and she scooted back up against the wall. The other two had a more peaceful awakening. Joe got up and answered the door. "Yeah, ok. I'll tell him," Joe said before closing the door.

Doc had turned to face him and Chris had lost the fearful look in her face, but was still against the wall. "Major Winters would like to speak with you at CP, Doc."

Doc looked back at Chris who had lain back down. Her body was crying out in protest from the quick, rough movements and laying down felt good. Chris read the question on Doc's face. "Vous pouvez aller (You can go)," she whispered.

"Ya sure?" he asked. He didn't want to leave her when she was so vulnerable. She nodded. 'At least Joe will stay her wit her. The only one who might be able to look after her better 'n us would be Captain Speirs,' he mused. Having reached a decision, Doc walked out the door, leaving Joe to watch the broken nurse.

Joe stared at Chris while Chris stared at the ceiling. Chris was still chasing the nightmares from her head and trying to come back to reality. To the reality where she was surrounded by a company of men who thought the world of her and would never dream of hurting her. To the reality where her two best friends had spent the night watching over her, because they couldn't bear to leave her alone. To the reality where she didn't flinch from their touch. Back to normal.

Joe took his chair and moved it to the side of her bed. Chris heard him drag the chair and turned her head to watch him as he sat down next to her. "Doc says you haven't spoken English since we . . .*gulp*. . . since we found you. Why?" he asked. The question had been burning in the back of his mind.

Chris quickly whipped her head around so that she was facing away from Joe and looking at the wall. "Please, Chris. You don't have to tell me everything, just this. I want . . . I want to help you and I can't if I don't know what to fix," he pleaded. It was hard to talk, difficult to even look at her. He had wanted to protect her, to make her happy, but then he was unable to help her when she was taken. He wasn't able to help her then, but he would help her now.

Neither of them spoke. Chris drew a deep breath and continued to face away from Joe while she talked, gazing through the wall like she wasn't actually in the room. "Quand ils eurent (When they had)-"

"Wait, wait. I can't understand you. Tell me in German if you won't speak English."

Another shuddering breath. This time she turned to face Joe. "Als sie mich hatte, sagten sie mir nicht Englisch zu sprechen. Und wann immer ich wollte, würde sie mich schlagen. Sie würden mich ersticken, zuerst mit ihren Händen, dann, später, mit meinem hund tags (When they had me, they told me not to speak English. And whenever I did, they would beat me. They would choke me, first with their hands, then, later, with my dog tags)," she said, pointing to the bruises that wrapped around her neck. She focused on Joe's face so as not to let the memories of all the times she tried to defy her captors and the punishments wash over her.

Joe followed her hand to her neck and snarled when he saw the bruises. 'How dare they. How dare they fucking touch her,' he snarled in his mind. But it explained the whole no-speak-English business. They had conditioned her to not speak in English. "But you're here now. You can speak English, nothing will happen to you."

Chris shook her head. "At least try. Please," he pleaded.

Chris looked at him and saw the mixed emotions on his face: desperation, guilt, pain, hope and promise. 'It's ok. It's safe. Nothing will happen.' She mentally prepared herself and opened her mouth to say 'I'll try' but her throat constricted. The fear came back, slamming her mouth shut and causing her to involuntarily shiver. Chris saw the anxiety and encouragement on Joe's face and opened her mouth to try again. Fear stopped her and the memories came back. Chris sadly shook her head and looked up at Joe.

Joe was a little frustrated. There shouldn't be a reason for her to have trouble now, when she was with him and in no danger. He pulled up some patience, knowing that he couldn't truly understand this kind of fear and pain. Then he had an idea. "Chris, repeat after me, okay?" he told her. She nodded, confused. "Uh, es schneit (it is snowing)," he said.

"Es schneit (It is snowing)?" she repeated, softly, unsure of his purpose.

He nodded. "Good, good. Now," he looked around the room for inspiration. "Der tisch ist klein (The table is small)."

"Der tisch ist klein (The table is small)," she said with more confidence, yet still quietly.

Joe would say whatever random phrase he could think of in German and Christine would repeat after him. This went on for ten minutes until Joe decided to add a little something to the game. "Talb wird präsentiert von dergets (gets presents from the) police," he said, adding the last part in English and hoping that she would follow.

Christine had been focusing all of her energy on listening to the sounds Joe made, so as not to think of anything else and repeated his latest thought. "Talb wird präsentiert von der (gets lots of presents from the) police," she dutifully replied, word-for-word, then realized that she said the last in English. She saw Joe's face light up and break into one of those rare, whole-hearted smiles that he reserved just for her.

"You did it!" he exclaimed, happy that his plan was working.

"Ye-ye-y-," she stuttered, fear blocking the words from coming out. Her body began to quiver. Back to square one.

"Shh, it's ok. Shh, don't worry, calm down," he comforted. He leaned forward, but didn't touch her, and sent his strength and calm through his nearness. True, he was a little frustrated and disappointed that she didn't immediately revert back to speaking English, but he wouldn't let it show. He'd just start over and go slowly, adding a little more English at a time until she formed the thoughts on her own and spoke without the memories returning. "Um, Harvard wirkt wie ein kleines Mädchen die Hälfte der Zeit (acts like a little girl half the time)."

"Harvard wirkt wie ein kleines Mädchen die Hälfte der Zeit (acts like a little girl half the time)."

"Lip wird eine gute Mutter machen (will make a good mother) someday, eh," he said mischievously, eyes twinkling.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Christine's face as she repeated exactly what he said. She would try her hardest to fix herself because she would never let those German bastards win by ruining her forever.

They continued this game, not knowing that someone was outside the door listening with a small smile on his face.

123

Doc walked to CP. Winters was right inside, waiting for him. "You wanted t'see me, sir."

"Yes, yes, I did. Would you like some coffee?" he offered. It was the only thing they had, but it was better than nothing.

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," Doc said, taking the mug that was handed to him. It helped chase out the chill in his bones that has been present ever since going to Bastogne. Doc sipped the coffee and peered over the rim at Winters.

"We just received orders. We're heading out to Mouremelon in an hour." Winters paused and looked at Doc, who was staring back at him. "What will we need to do with Christine? Does she want to stay with us or should she stay in a hospital?" Dick knew that there was another option, sending her home, but he didn't want to say that.

Doc looked hesitant. He wasn't sure what to say. He didn't know what she wanted or what would be best for her. He recalled all of her actions last night and this morning and thought long and hard before answering. "I think," he started then stopped. Winters waited, silently urging him to continue. "I think she should go to a hospital. They might know how to help her better'an we can."

Winters really didn't want to, but he asked anyways. "Do you think she will come back with us, after a bit?" He couldn't bring himself to actually say 'or will she leave'.

The question felt like a knife in the gut to Doc and judging from the grim look on Winters' face, he felt the same. "I hope she'll come back to us, sir. I don't think she'd leave. She doesn't have anywhere else to go and judgin' from her reactions from when we first came to Haguenau, I'd say she wouldn't want to be alone. She looked so lost, like a child." Doc chuckled at the memory, but sobered, remembering how she looked now. "She wouldn't want to be by herself in an unfamiliar place. So, yes, I'd say she'll stay with us, sir," Doc said. He sounded like he was trying to reassure the Major and himself, but neither fully believed what he said.

They stood there in an awkward silence when a thought struck Doc. "How will we get her there?"

Winters looked at him, not realizing that transportation might have been a problem. His face held a look of deep concentration. "Do you think that she would ride in a jeep? Maybe just a few officers with her?"

"We can try it, sir. I think as long as she doesn't have to be too close to anyone, she'll be fine. I'll go ask her," Doc replied, heading out.

Doc entered the building and was fretting about the whole mess. He didn't know how to tell Christine that they were taking her to a hospital in Mourmelon and decided on giving her the plain truth, no moseying about. Doc had his hand on the doorknob and was about to open the door when he heard voices. Not voice, but voices. Two. One male and one female. The only female around was Chris. She was talking! Upon further listening, Doc found that she was speaking in English, even.

He leaned against the door and smiled as he eavesdropped. Though muffled, he could make out the voices. "Okay, now answer the question: how are you feeling?" the male voice asked.

"How are you feeling?" Chris replied in a grave tone.

"No. Answer the question," Joe instructed.

"No. Answer the question," she repeated, as serious as before.

"Stop mocking me, damn it, and answer the stupid question!" Joe said loudly, stridently, sounding rather annoyed. Doc couldn't help but shake his head: Joe lost his temper rather quickly.

"Stop mocking me, damn it, and answer the stupid question!" Christine retorted and let out a light giggle. Though they didn't know, both men had frozen at the sound and their hearts lifted. Things would be right after all.

Doc opened the door, slowly, and came into the room. "It's nice ta hear ya laugh, Chris," he admitted softly. "Major Winters just told me that we are movin' out to Mourmelon in an hour. He said that you could ride in one o' the jeeps, with a couple o' the officers. Who do ya wanna ride with?" he asked.

Now it was time to see how well Joe's little game had worked. She needed to answer without any prompting. Chris froze, the haunted and fearful look overcoming her whole body once again at the prospect of having to face someone else. Chris took a deep breath, saw the encouraging smile from Joe and slowly answered, "I will ride with Dick, Nix, and Speirs. No one else."

Doc nodded his head. "Okay. I'll go tell da Major." He decided to leave out the bit about taking her to the hospital. The Major could give her that piece of news.

123

Winters pulled the jeep around to the back door. He, Lew and Speirs waited with mixed emotions for their nurse to come out. The door opened. Nix and Speirs grimaced but Winters breathed a sigh of relief. Those two hadn't seen her last night; they could only imagine how bad she had looked. Chris looked a hell of a lot better than when Dick last saw her. She'd had a shower, her hands were bandaged, body still stiff with apprehension and eyes filled with fear, but not crazed.

Doc helped Chris climb into the back seat. She quietly thanked him and settled as far away as possible from the other passengers. Doc stepped back and watched the jeep speed away before grabbing his stuff from Joe.

Joe had stood in the doorway as Chris was loaded up and taken away. Now that she was gone, his anger broke through. He turned and punched the wall, causing cracks to spread through the wall and blood to drip down his hand.

Doc appeared unfazed by the sudden aggression. Truthfully, he wasn't too surprised. After he told Christine that they were leaving, she fell back into a semi-comatose state. She'd answer questions, in English still, but her mind was obviously elsewhere, much to the disappointment of her two closest friends. "Come here," he ordered Joe in a tired voice, pulling out some bandages.

There was a pause, then Joe trudged over to the medic. He slumped against the door and held out his hands to Doc. As Doc patched him up, Joe silently ranted in his head. Those bastards had fucked her up good. They made it so that he couldn't even hold her hands, something he was able to do almost immediately after meeting her for the first time. Thanks to them, he couldn't even hold his best friend to chase away her nightmares and it made him furious all over again.

Just as he was finishing wrapping Joe's hands, Doc noticed them shaking. He calmly held them still and sent waves of reassurance through his own hands. Immediately, Joe felt the anger start to release him. Joe didn't believe in magic, but the talk about those magical Cajun healers wasn't an old wives' tale if they were anything like the raven-haired man before him.

Seeing that the young man had calmed, Doc grabbed his things and headed off to get on one of the trucks waiting to take them to Mourmelon. Joe trailed after him, trying to block out that voice in his head that was saying, "I should kill those bastards for touching what's mine." It was a stupid thought and the jealousy that went along with it was just as annoying. He wasn't interested in Chris. No way. She wasn't the type he usually fooled around with. With a shake of his head, he went off to pick a fight with College Boy to distract himself.

_Please Review!_


	20. Recovering

_Author's Note: I am speeding up her recovery time just a bit to fit with the timeline, not because she is superwoman or anything, so if it seems to fast to be real, I am sorry._

Silence reigned over the occupants of the jeep. Harry had asked why he couldn't ride with them and Nix told him it was because Christine was riding with them. The silence that followed was very similar to the silence currently surrounding the jeep. There wasn't anything to say. The men didn't know that she could speak English and she wasn't ready to tell them.

Just barely could Chris see the caravan of soldiers following them. It had been decided that they would drive ahead of everyone else so that Chris didn't have to see anyone else or be stared at. But that didn't stop the three officers from constantly sneaking glances at the nurse.

Even Nix, who would openly stare under any other circumstances, was subtle in his attempts. Though he didn't normally act like it, Nix was raised in the high society and knew about timing and appropriate etiquette. He was having trouble accepting the fact that their vibrant nurse looked so completely lost and broken. Her face held a different haunted look to it than what the soldiers were parading about with and it frightened him. He was itching for a drink though he knew that no matter how much he drank, this image of her would forever be burned into his memory.

They drove for hours and not once did Ron relax. If the wind wasn't so loud, his companions would be able to hear his teeth grinding against one another. His fists were tightly clenched and would only loosen for seconds at a time before returning to their original clenched position. Looking at her, he wasn't sure what pissed him off the most: the fact that he hadn't gone and killed the bastards that took her, that he hadn't been able to protect, that he hadn't rescued her, or that he couldn't help her.

Chris had sat through the whole ride, staring at the scenery, lost inside her mind. She spent the entire ride telling herself that everything would be fine. She was working on putting the memories of the time she was kidnapped into a box in the back of her mind, when she realized that they were already in Mourmelon. They were already in the military camp, but they were heading towards the hospital, not to battalion. "Where are we going?" she asked, almost angrily.

The jeep swerved as her companions jumped in surprise. Luckily they were in front of the hospital, so Dick just parked the jeep and turned around with Nix to stare at the nurse. Ron was already facing her. "You . . .You spoke English," Nix stated, jaw slack before he turned to point his finger and address Dick. "But I thought you said that she didn't speak English."

"Yes, I did, Captain Obvious. Now, why are we parked outside of a hospital?" she snapped back, not allowing Winters to answer Nix. Did they forget? Hospitals and Christine were not a good mix. She had just gotten used to the idea of being around people, but those were her people, not . . . other people.

Needless to say, the officers were even more surprised at the anger coming from the nurse than they had been when she talked. She had never snapped at them. Never. Even in high-stress situations, like when someone had half their face blown off, she always remained calm. Nix and Ron looked over at Dick; it had been his idea so he could tell her. "Well, we-"

"You and Doc" Nix coughed out, not wanting their nurse to blame him.

Dick glared at him as he spoke again. "_We_ decided that you should go to a hospital because they would be able to help you better than we could," he finished with a note of regret. Ron looked away, rueful, all of his earlier anger deserting him.

Chris didn't know what to say. She didn't want to be surrounded by strangers, though she would at least be distracted if she worked in a hospital. But she also didn't want to be near her men; she didn't want them to know of her shameful past. "Okay," she said softly.

Dick couldn't believe how easily she agreed after her little outburst. "Umm, well, follow me, then." They all got out of the jeep and went into the hospital. Dick found the head surgeon and spoke quietly with him. He explained without too much detail what had befallen their poor nurse. The surgeon, Ryan Holly, cast a sympathetic glance at Christine before telling Winters that she could stay in the hospital. "Thank you," Winters said. "And if there are any problems, just phone HQ and ask for Major Winters."

"Of course. We'll take good care of her," he assured Winters before turning to Christine. "Sarah will take you to your room." He motioned to one of the nurses, a short brunette. Christine looked back at her companions and only walked forward after they attempted to give her encouraging smiles.

Winters waited until Chris was out of sight before saying, "Come on. We need to go set up." He walked back to the jeep, expecting the other two to follow.

Ron grabbed Doc Holly's arm as he started to turn away. "You better take good care of her. If you don't . . . well, I'll kill you. Got it?" Speirs waited with a dark look upon his face for Holly to nod before continuing. He was pleased to see the other man's Adam's apple bob nervously. "Good. Make sure she eats at least three times a day. She has a habit of giving her food to a patient if she thinks they need it more than her, which is all the time. Or she'll skip a meal completely to keep working. Don't let her. And-"

"And we're going. He knows what he's doing," Nix injected, pushing Ron towards the door, before turning back to address the frightened doctor. "Oh and Doc? She's a nurse. Born and raised that way. If she's up to it, you might ask her to come out and help with some of the patients. To distract her and what not. She'd enjoy that," he said before following Ron out to the jeep.

The short ride to Headquarters was no more comfortable than the long ride to the hospital. None of the men liked the empty look Christine had worn when that nurse led her away. Hopefully, the doctors would be able to fix their nurse.

123

She'd only been there a few days, but those around her could clearly see the change.

Sarah had been very helpful. When she had escorted Chris to the room she would be using, she couldn't help but feel that she knew the girl following her. After a few minutes, and imagining the girl's face to look less haunted and maybe more focused and kind, she figured it out. "I'm sorry, but is your name Christine?"

Chris looked up, the barest traces of surprise crossing her face. "Yeeesss . . ."

Sarah's face broke into a huge smile. "Do you remember me? It's Sarah. We worked together for a few months in France, before D-Day. Moved hospitals a couple of times together. I didn't recognize you at first. You've lost quite a bit of weight."

The Christine of old would have chuckled. If anyone had lost weight, it was Sarah. She was still a looker, with very defined curves, but she was definitely skinnier. Her hair was shorter, too; it used to be as long as Chris's, but now it was in a bob, barely brushing her chin. "It's been awhile, Sarah."

Sarah nodded. "That it has. But now isn't the time for catching up. You just rest here, and I'll be back to check on you in a bit. If you need anything, just come find me; I won't be far." And with that, she left, giving Christine a chance to check out her surroundings. It was a tiny room. Judging from what little was left in it, it was an exam room. All that was left was a small cot in the corner and a table. Light streamed in from a small window in the back.

Later, Sarah did come back and she brought food. It was only marginally better than what she was used too, but having not eaten since yesterday, it tasted wonderful. Doc Holly had told Sarah what Major Winters had told him. She knew that Christine had had a rough time, she just didn't know it was this bad. Sarah let Chris eat in silence before picking up her things and walking to the door. "If you need anything, my room is next door," she said as she left.

Chris had mixed feelings about being left alone for so long. On one hand, she didn't have to deal with anyone and their staring or accidental touches. However, there wasn't anything to distract her from the nightmares threatening to seep into her mind. Christine sat on the bed and stared at the wall, doing her best to fight the fear. She continued the battle lying down when she realized that darkness had fallen and she didn't even notice when she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

After a few hours of tossing and turning, Chris jumped out of bed, covered in sweat. Luckily no one had heard her, or if they had, decided not to come poking around. She took deep breaths, pushing the terror into the back of her mind. Slowly, she crawled back into bed, longing for someone to sit beside her and help chase away the demons.

The next day, Sarah attempted to make small talk with Christine. Attempted being the key word. It was hard to make small talk with a comatose being. The only good things were that Chris ate all of her food and Sarah was actually able to touch her without Chris freaking out. Sarah sat next to her as she ate and Chris showed no reaction whenever Sarah's hand brushed against hers when she handed over the plate. Inside, Chris was beaming with pride at the progress.

That night, Sarah told Doc Holly about her observations. She said that Christine wouldn't really talk to her, but she had no adverse reactions to fleeting contact with Sarah.

"Well, that's progress. Try for more physical contact tomorrow; a hand on the arm, something and see how that goes. What did you talk about?" he asked.

Sarah thought for a moment, trying to recall exactly what she had babbled on about. "I told her about the melting snow, and how it reminded me of back home, then I mostly told her my life story."

"Hmmm. Maybe, next time, try getting her interested in something, then she might actually talk."

"Like what? Can't talk about her family; they're dead! Do you want me to talk about the work we have here? All of the dying and the crippled? Oh, that'll brighten her up, I'm sure," Sarah spat back sarcastically.

"I don't know, Sarah," Holly replied in a tired voice. He wasn't up to dealing with a rape victim in the middle of a war. As he was running his hand down his face, he remembered the men who dropped her off and how they all acted. Even though she hadn't realized it, Christine had unconsciously stayed very close to her three companions and they in turn had acted as a shield for her. All three of them expressed interest in the guarantee of her well-being, acting quite protective actually._ 'If you don't . . . well, I'll kill you.'_ Holly shuddered, remembering the words of a certain Captain and prayed that he would never meet him again.

When Sarah brought Christine breakfast in the morning, she laid her hand on her shoulder, just like Doc Holly had instructed her to do. Christine froze at the contact but Sarah calmly left her hand there. It gave Christine the chance to tell herself that nothing was going to happen, Sarah wasn't threatening her. Pretty soon, Christine relaxed and Sarah removed her hand.

It was a major improvement. Christine had really been working on controlling her memories, emotions and reactions. Whenever Sarah would touch her, she would stiffen for a few seconds then relax. By the end of the day, Christine barely even paused before relaxing into Sarah's hand that was on her arm. 'Definite progress," Sarah thought, getting up. "You're doing a lot better, Christine. Whatever you have going on in your head is working. Good night."

123

_Earlier that day, Sarah had noticed the distant look on Christine's face. "Hey, Christine. What are you thinking about?"_

_Christine turned when she heard her name. "Wha? Oh, well," she paused and took a deep breath. "Well, I was telling myself that I was stronger than this; that I could get better. I'm tired of being haunted," she finished quietly, looking at her lap instead of Sarah._

_Sarah was shocked that Christine had actually told her what she was thinking. It was amazing, the strength this young women possessed. Lots of women never completely overcame the trauma of what happened to them, but here Christine was trying to fight it days after it happened, all on her own._

_Unfortunately, that was about all Sarah got Christine to say that day. She hadn't want to push the subject of her rape, so there wasn't much left to talk about. Sarah refused to bring up Christine's family and thought talking about the other patients in the hospital would be too depressing._

123

Food wasn't the only thing Sarah brought with her the next morning to Christine's room. "Good morning, Christine. We met the other day. My name is Ryan Holly and I am the head surgeon here." Doc Holly held out his hand, testing her progress. Sarah stood silently in the background.

Chris grasped his hand with little hesitation. "Good morning, sir," she replied.

Both Holly and Sarah noticed how quickly she pulled her hand back. 'At least she shook his hand,' they both thought. "Please, just call me Holly," he insisted.

Christine nodded and then waited for him to say why he was here.

Sarah had told him that she was getting better with physical contact and he wanted to see how much better. It worried him a little that she didn't seem to be getting her personality back. According to Major Winters, she used to be vibrant and cheerful, but Holly had yet to see that side of her, and apparently, so has Sarah. Let there be no doubt: Holly was impressed with how well Christine seemed to be doing, but it would be better if she brightened up.

He decided to follow Captain Nixon's advice and send Christine out to do her job as a nurse. "We're a little short-staffed here and I was hoping that you would be willing to come out and help change and wash bandages. But only if you're comfortable doing it. If you don't want to, that's completely fine. It's up to you," he assured her.

They were all, Christine included, surprised at how quickly she agreed to help. "I'll do it. Just point me in the right direction and I'll start working."

"Whoa, there. You can eat first," Holly said, remembering the orders of a worried Captain. But giving her something to do seemed to do the trick. "You need to keep your strength up."

Sarah could only stare at her charge in amazement. The Christine she had just seen is the Christine she used to know. As soon as she finished eating, Christine asked Sarah where she needed to go to start working. Sarah led her back out into the main part of the hospital and gave her a quick rundown of the place. "We keep the bandages in these cabinets and the rest of the supplies over here. Go through this door here, and we're at the washing room. Clean linens are kept here and we hang the ones to dry over in that room. Almost every other room is filled with the wounded. Pick a place to start and have at it. If you need anything, just find me or ask one of the other doctors floating about," Sarah finished with.

"Okay. Thank you." Christine walked off to the closest room and felt strangely at peace. It was like all of her problems disappeared and she was able to focus solely on helping these wounded soldiers. It was just like before the kidnapping.

Every hour or so, Sarah and Holly would go searching for Christine to make sure she was doing okay. They would silently observe from a distance and if they didn't know any better, would mistake her for a regular nurse, not the broken young woman who had come to them a couple of days ago.

Finally after noon, Holly gently laid his hand on Christine's arm to get her attention. She merely finished wrapping a man's arm before looking up. "Yes, sir?"

"I told you to call me Holly," he said absently, stunned at her lack of reaction. Putting her to work did help, like that man said it would. "Anyways," he continued, remembering his reason for coming over. "It's time for lunch. You need to go eat."

Christine moved on to the soldier's leg. "In a bit," she replied, unwrapping the bandage around his shin, already dismissing Holly from her mind.

Holly shook his head. "After you clean and bandage this leg." He stayed and watched her work. She was quick and efficient, like most of the veteran nurses here. Even when pulling off the dead flesh, she remained unfazed.

When she had finished, she started to make her way to another patient before Holly grabbed her. "Nope. You are going to go eat. Now," he said, answering her unspoken question.

Holly led her to the kitchen. They both got some food and sat on some chairs outside to eat. Once, Christine had tried to leave before she had finished but Holly stopped her. "Finish it, or it's my hide."

"Your hide?" she asked, confused, but continued eating nonetheless.

"Yep. If you don't eat three times a day, that man you came with said he would kill me and I believe he would, too." Holly shuddered at the memory.

Christine knew which man Holly would be referring to. Of course all of her boys would threaten someone to make sure they took care of her, but there was only one who would inspire so much fear in a seasoned doctor. She could easily picture Ron threatening Doc Holly. "That would be Captain Speirs. He wouldn't really kill you. I think," she added.

"Either way, I don't want to risk it."

"That's fine," Christine replied, standing up. "I'm done anyway." She showed Holly her plate so he could see that it was empty. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be getting back to work."

Holly watched her go back inside, replaying their conversation in his mind. 'I think I've found a way to get her personality back,' he thought, recalling the way her whole being brightened when he mentioned one of her companions. Holly went off to tell Sarah of his discovery.

123

Being given the opportunity to go out and act like a nurse had really helped Chris. She had a pretty good handle on her memories. Even though they resurfaced, she had done lots of practice pushing them to that box in the back of her mind. The next step was physical contact. The small amount of time she spent with Sarah helped because Sarah took things very slow. But now it was time to step up the game.

When she went out to go change bandages, her patients didn't know about her past and would grab her arm or shirt, just like any other nurse. She would freeze at first, like she had with Sarah, and would have to tell herself that she was safe now before she would relax. But being out in the hospital gave her tons of exposure to short, harmless contact, and within a few hours, someone could grab her arm without phasing her. Now, being grabbed from behind or swept up into a hug might be a different story, but this was enough for now.

She would also talk to the wounded soldiers, just like she had in the past. Sometimes she would give them a running narration of what she was doing to them, other times she would tell them whatever story she could think of.

After her lunch with Holly, both Holly and Sarah seemed obsessed with asking her questions about Easy. Christine could vaguely recall Winters telling Holly that she had been Easy's field nurse since November, so Holly must have said something to Sarah. Anyways, now both of them brought up Easy whenever they had a chance. Christine didn't realize they did that because that was the only thing she would talk to them about.

Christine had been there over a week when the incident occurred.

123

Every night, Christine would wake up with nightmares. The actual nightmares were just as terrifying as they were the night of her rescue, but something was different. She was able to push them away now that her mind was clearer, but the dark seemed even scarier now that she was in the hospital, getting better. She realized that it was _because_ she was in the hospital. Her friends weren't here to protect and she missed the sense of security she felt when she was with them.

Even though she wanted to be back with her boys, she dreaded the idea of seeing them. She couldn't face them, not after what happened. It was her fault that she got kidnapped. She hadn't told anyone about these dark thoughts, but she knew it was true and it shamed her. Her biggest fear was that they would think of her differently; would hate her. There was no way she could see them. If she had been in her right mind when she was rescued, she wouldn't have even stayed that first night. Instead, she would have gotten a jeep to go to battalion and ask for a transfer back to a hospital.

She didn't know exactly what her plan was, but seeing any of the men from Easy wan't included. That's why she freaked out when she turned to see Webster walking towards her in the hospital.

123

"Christine! Hey, Chris!"

Christine could hear someone calling her name and she turned around, the fact that they had used her nickname from Easy not even registering in her mind. It was Webster. Christine turned back around and ran.

"What the hell?" Webster said, taking off after her. He nearly lost her a few times, but the hospital wasn't that big. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare after the running nurse and Webster used the turned heads as directions. He caught the door that was swinging closed. They were outside. He sprinted to the nurse and grabbed her arm.

"Let go of me!" she screamed, twisting out of his grasp.

"Chris, what's wrong? It's just me, Webster. I'm not going to hurt you," he said, trying to calm her down. He was frowning at her adverse reaction, disappointed with the apparent lack of progress concerning her mental well-being.

Today was the first time that any of them had some down time. They had been drilled and worked since the moment they arrived, but they were being given the weekend off. Webster, like all the rest of Easy, had been worrying about their nurse nonstop, so he decided to go check on her. They knew that she had been taken to a hospital because they had all attacked Doc with questions. He didn't know how she was, he hoped she'd be okay, he knew that she was taken to a hospital, and worst of all, he didn't have any idea when (if) she was coming back to them.

"Get out of here!" she yelled, not looking at him.

Doc Holly had witnessed the whole event and followed them outside. He spoke up. "What is going on here?" he asked, stepping between the two.

Christine seemed disinclined to answer so he turned towards Webster. "I had just come to check on Chris. She's the field nurse for my company, E Company. I . . . I had just called her name and when she saw me she ran," Webster explained, looking a little helpless, but mainly confused.

Holly understood what was going on. Most rape victims were ashamed of what happened to them and this shame caused them to distance themselves from their friends. "Well, I can assure you that she is doing much better. She's even begun helping us in the hospital, resuming her work as a nurse. You've seen her, she's fine, now I'll have to ask you to leave, sir," Holly said.

Webster knew an order when he heard one and nodded. "Goodbye, Chris. We miss you," he said softly. With one last look at the nurse who refused to face him, he left.

Holly waited until Webster was out of sight before turning to face Christine. "Why did you run?" he asked quietly.

Christine just shook her head and tried to walk past Holly. She obviously wasn't going to answer, but Holly had a pretty good guess as to her answer. "What happened to you isn't your fault and no one thinks any less of you for it," he pleaded with her to understand. She merely gazed up at him, eyes tinted with a hint of something akin to defiance.

He let her by and followed her into the hospital to make a phone call. He waited and listened for the ringing to stop. "Ah, yes. This is Ryan Holly, head surgeon at the hospital on base. May I speak to Major Winters, please," he requested.

"One moment," the voice on the other end replied.

There was a long, tense silence. "This is Major Winters," a male voice finally said, filling the silence.

"Major Winters. This is Doc Holly."

"Doc. How is she doing?" he asked, voice filled with concern. Holly could only imagine how much time he had spent fretting over leaving Christine at the hospital.

"Quite well, surprisingly. When you told me what happened and how she had been acting, I seriously wondered if I would be able to help her. How wrong I was; she's doing remarkably well for the circumstances. Actually, she's out changing bandages on some of the patients and she looks no different than any of our other nurses here."

"Physical contact does not seem to bother her, only on the rare occasion is she surprised and freezes for a moment before relaxing. I constantly hear her conversing with the patients and they all seem to love her. The only tricky part was getting her to talk to us, but that was solved quite easily."

Winters breathed out a sigh of relief and Holly chuckled. "And how was that?" Winters asked, curious.

"Well, it seems that the only time she will willingly say anything to us nurses and doctors is to talk about Easy Company. I stumbled upon it by accident, but now, all she talks about is you boys."

'It figures,' Winters thought, smiling for the first time since Chris went missing. "When will she be ready to come back to us?"

Winters frowned when Holly didn't answer immediately. "That's actually why I called, sir. You see, one of your men stopped by today to check on her and well . . . she didn't handle the encounter well. Not well at all."

Holly felt bad for telling the Major that; he could feel the hurt and shock coming from the man across the line. Winters felt his heart drop into his stomach. His worst fear was coming true. "Do you . . . do you think that she will ever be ready to come back to us?" he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Well, there's some hope yet. I've seen this before. She probably needs some more time, but for now, I think it will be best if you keep your men away from the hospital for a while. I'll work on her from here."

"Thank you. Let me know if anything changes," Winters ordered and hung up the phone. He slumped down in the chair and took a deep breath. The good news was that Christine was getting better. She just didn't want to see any of them. There'd be time to think of that later. Right now, he needed to tell the men that they were not allowed anywhere near the hospital because their favorite person didn't want to see them.

_Author's Note: Please review!_


	21. Confessions

"Who was that?"

Winters raised his head from his hands and saw Nix standing in the doorway. Nix actually looked hesitant as he waited for his friend to answer. "It was the doctor . . ."

Nix cocked an eyebrow. "The doctor? Which doctor? There's a handful of them around," he said, being a smartass. What can he say? It's his default mode.

What he didn't expect was for Winters to actually snap at him. "You know bloody well which doctor! Doc Holly, head surgeon of the hospital on the other end of the base! Now go round up the men. I have something to tell them," Winters said, his face turning red from yelling.

Nix recovered quickly and regained his usual smirk. "That'll be easy. I'm sure they're all heading over to the hospital right now. We could just meet them at the door."

"No, we can't," Winters replied curtly. "They can't go near the hospital. That's what I have to tell them." He took a deep breath and started cooling off. It wasn't Nix's fault so there was no use yelling at him.

"Are you serious? This is the first free time that they've had since they got here and they've wanted nothing more than to storm the hospital to check on Christine and you want to tell them that they can't?" Nix questioned, incredulous. That wouldn't go over well. The only reason that the men hadn't left before was because they had been worked so hard that they fell into bed, exhausted. They hadn't even gone drinking yet!

That might not have been the best phrasing on Nix's part because Winters grew agitated once more. "No, I don't _want_ to tell them that! But the doctor just called and said that it would be best if we left her alone." Winters sighed and leaned back in his chair once more.

There was no question of who 'she' was. "What happened?" Something must have happened for the doc to call Winters and tell him to order the boys away.

"Apparently, one of the men went to visit her and she didn't handle it well. Her reaction was bad enough for Doc Holly to call me and ask that the men do not attempt to visit her again, indefinitely. She even said that she doesn't want to see us."

"Holy shit."

"Tell me about it." Winters knew how much the boys wanted to go visit their nurse; hell, he felt the same way, but if visiting would do more harm than good, he would stay away, just like every one of them.

Nix, realizing that he needed to think of a plan to get around said order, suddenly put on a chipper facade to mask his scheming. "So, should we make a break for the hospital now, before any of the men get there and disobey an order they don't even know about?"

Winters didn't even notice. "Go round them up as quickly as possible," he ordered, ushering Nix out the door.

123

"All right men. I have an announcement for you," Winters said, looking at the group assembled in front of him. They'd only been here a week and already they looked better, less haggard. Even though they were trained not to show it, and to anyone else, it would go unnoticed, but to Winters, who _knew_ these men, fought with them, shed blood with them, they were antsy. This was their free time and they were wondering why the hell they had been called here. Nix had been correct: almost every single one of them had been getting ready to head over to the hospital.

"As you all know," he continued, "Our nurse, Christine, was sent to the hospital upon her arrival to Mourmelon, where she has been recovering." He didn't need to say from what, they all knew it was from her time with the Germans. "I have just received a phone call from the head surgeon, the same man overseeing Chris's recovery, and he told me it would be for the best if she did not have any visitors."

Holly hadn't said which of these men had gone to see the nurse, but Winters was going to find out. He scanned the crowd. Many of the faces were grave, shocked, disappointed, and maybe even angered, but not a hint of guilt. There. Ah, it was Webster. His eyes were downcast and remorse was strewn across his face.

"Basically, no member of Easy Company is allowed to be within twenty feet of the base hospital until further notice."

"Permission to speak, sir?" Luz called out.

"Permission granted." Winters knew this wasn't going to be easy and waited for the onslaught of impending objections.

"What if we_ need_ to go to the hospital? Like if we get injured or something, sir?" He had a point. Would they not get treated if they were hurt?

"It will be taken care of. If it isn't life threatening, and I mean if you will die without a surgeon in two minutes- no scratch that. Even if you need a surgeon, you will scream bloody murder until he comes outside the hospital, where he will operate on you right then and there. Otherwise, a jeep will be called and you will be sent to another hospital."

"So I would suggest you hold off on getting hurt for a while," Nix chimed in.

"But I'm a medic!" Doc cried, his voice a mix of incredulous and desperate. You can't tell a medic he can't go to the hospital!

"Arrangements will be made," Winters stated forcefully. "You tell me or one of the Lieutenants what you need. They'll tell me and I will arrange for you to have it. Now, are there any more questions?"

Perco raised his hand. "Sir? Is she at least doing better?"

Finally, a chance for Winters to unwind and spread some cheerful news. "As a matter of fact, yes, she is. She's doing much better."

A collective sigh of relief was heard from the crowd. Everyone there had heard about their nurse's past and it had been gnawing at the back of their minds all week. Those that had actually seen her after she had been rescued were constantly haunted by her shattered form.

"Remember, twenty feet. Go any closer and I can't tell you what will happen to you, but I guarantee you won't like it. Stay out of the hospital. No exceptions. Understand?" Winters looked every man in the eye, making sure he was understood. "Good. Webster, I'd like to see you in my office. The rest of you are dismissed."

123

"Have a seat, Webster," Winters said, indicating the chair in front of his desk. Webster did as he was bid. "Coffee?" Winters offered, holding the coffee, ready to pour a cup.

Webster looked up at Winters. "No thank you, sir."

Winters set the cup down, not having poured anything. "Very well." He sat down opposite Webster. "You were the soldier who visited Christine." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, I was."

"What happened?" Winters asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

"Basically, she saw me, then she ran. I pursued and when I caught up to her, she started yelling at me. A doctor had followed us out. He told me that she was fine and then ordered me to leave, sir," Webster explained. He grimaced, recalling the fear in Christine's voice.

Winters nodded, then asked, "How did she look?"

The surprise showed on Webster's face. "What, sir?"

"How did she look?" he repeated.

Webster gulped before answering. "Um, well," he started, trying to figure out what exactly Winters was asking. Then, an image of Christine when she was in that German-occupied house flashed across his mind and he suddenly knew what Winters wanted to know. "She's looking a lot better, sir. Her face wasn't as gaunt, her eyes were bright and she almost looked happy, sir." 'That is, until she saw me,' he added mentally.

"Happy?" Winters asked, hope filling him once again.

"Yes, sir. When I first arrived, she was redressing a soldier's wound and her whole being radiated with content. She was as relaxed as when I first met her in Hagenau. Whatever she is doing at the hospital, it has been beneficial for her, sir."

Webster was too engrossed in the memories of finding Christine after she had been with the Germans and his little trip this morning to catch the sigh of relief that came from Winters. Winters was glad that Webster had confirmed Holly's positive assessment of Chris.

"Is there anything else, sir?"

Winters looked over at Webster. He felt bad about the way Christine had greeted him this morning; it was obviously taking its toll on the man, if his normally crystal blue eyes were anything to go by. The pain and concern clouding his eyes matched the feeling in Winters' own heart. He couldn't blame the man for checking on Chris and the resulting consequence of being ordered not to see her. "No. You may go," Winters said, dismissing him with a wave of his hand.

Webster nodded and left, wandering away with no set destination in mind.

123

While Winters was grilling Webster for information, there was another interrogation going on nearby.

"What was that all about?" Speirs asked, body tense.

He really hated the smirk that Nix was now sporting. "Well now, Ron, I thought you were paying attention. The good Major just told you that you were not allowed to go within twenty feet of the hospital on base. Does that ring any bells?" he asked condescendingly.

Nix knew he succeeded in angering the other man as he heard Ron grit his teeth. "I know what he said, I want to know _why_ he said it." Ron was sorely tempted to put a gun to the man's head just to wipe off that obnoxious expression.

The smirk disappeared to be replaced with a grim face. "One of the men went to visit her earlier and she apparently freaked out. The doctor in charge called up Dick and told him what happened. He said it would be better if we left her alone for a while. He said . . . he said that she didn't want to see us." Nix couldn't turn away fast enough for Ron to miss the pain that flashed in his brown eyes.

"She doesn't want to see us? Why the hell not?" he demanded. Ron actually looked stricken.

Nix grew angry. "I don't know. I wasn't there! Why do you even care? I mean, we all like her and everything, but you're Sparky. You don't show concern for anyone, so why her? What makes her so special?" Nix prodded, genuinely curious as to Ron's answer.

Ron's face reverted back to its normal blank mask, but when he spoke, his voice held a weary undertone. "It's because of Melody."

Ron sat in the chair behind him and Nix followed suit, getting ready for a good story. Ron took a deep breath before beginning his confession. "There was this girl named Melody in my neighborhood. She was about the same age as me. We went to school together, but that's it. We weren't friends or anything."

'I'll bet. Did you even have any friends?' Nix asked silently.

Ron didn't notice the amused expression on his companion's face as he continued. "While we were in high school, she was beaten raped by the local group of thugs. She told the authorities, but they didn't do much. When she came back to school, everyone avoided her. Even her friends started pushing her away. She became the target of all the gossip and cruel jokes at the high school. It all became too much for her. One day, she committed suicide and I was the one to find her behind the school."

As the memories came rushing into his mind, Ron paused in his story. Nix silently willed Ron to continue the story. He pushed the disturbing images to the back of his mind before he recommenced. "She had multiple lacerations on her body because she used her blood to write one last message. 'Let my blood wash away my hideous crimes and allow me to find eternal peace.' She had bled out. She had killed herself because no one was there to help her; we all pushed her away and into the ground. I refuse to find another body of a young woman who killed herself because there was no one there to help her and everyone scorned hr. I refuse to allow Christine to even think that she is so alone because of what those bastards did to her that she is better off dead."

Silence filled the air. The big secret was out and Nix wasn't sure how to react. It explained why Sparky got so protective of Chris, but it made him seem human. She must be the only exception to his indifference. "So, you don't really like her? You haven't fallen prey to her cheerful persona and kind demeanor, like the rest of us? She isn't the little sister that you've never had and feel the inexplicable urge to protect from the world?"

Ron choose not to reply, but his non-reaction was the only answer Nix needed. Ron was just like the rest of them and liked the nurse because of who she was, not just someone who aided his hero-complex.

Nix stood with a smirk. "Now that we have that all cleared up, I think I'll go out for a walk." Speirs nodded absently as Nix left him to worry about the young nurse who had nestled her way into his heart, and every other heart in Easy Company.

123

"Who the hell does he think he is?" a drunken voice called out. Since Easy Company couldn't spend the day with their nurse, they squandered the morning and afternoon by aimlessly walking around town until the bars open. Now, they were all crowded in a bar, drunk, talking about their nurse.

"It's not the damn doctor," Webster spat. He found it funny that his companions thought the doctor was the one who told them to stay away. If only they knew the truth.

"What was that, Web?" Lip asked. He wasn't drunk, but he'd had a beer or two.

Web turned to face Lip. "It's not the damn doctor. They," he gestures to the rest of the men, "think it was the doctor's idea to keep us away. It was Christine's!"

Lip was confused. "What are you talking about? Are you saying Chris doesn't want to see us?"

The frown on Lipton's face deepened as Webster laughed. "That's exactly what I'm saying! I went to visit her this morning and she ran away from me! I followed her and when I caught up to her, she started screaming at me. 'Get away,' she yelled. 'Leave me alone.' Who does she think she is, telling me I can't check on her? I saw her when we crossed the river, when she passed out from the pain. I was there when she woke up, terrified and broken. Fuck the others, I have every right to see her. They didn't find her. I just, I couldn't let those be the last images I had of her," he finished quietly.

"I get it, Web. I really do. I was there when we found her, too." Webster looked a little sheepish; he had forgotten that Lipton was part of the rescue team and had seen what he'd seen. "Hell, I had to carry her back and truthfully? I can't quite shake the feeling of holding her in my arms. Seeing her, all bruised and bloody, in my arms when I raced to get her back to Doc, it hasn't left my mind yet."

Lip let out a humor-less laugh. "I've known her for four months, saw her less than a day after she was saved from Layman, and I never knew. And now, for that to have happened to her twice, right under our noses? It makes me feel like shit. After all she's done for us, we weren't even able to protect her." Lip finished the bottle of beer in his hand like he was trying to chase away the ugly feelings that came with what he just said.

Webster had no idea what to say to that. He offered another beer to Lipton.

"That'd be good. Thanks, Webster," he said, gratefully accepting the drink. "I think . . . I think it'll be okay. Chris's strong. She just needs some time, then she'll come back to us. Has anyone ever told you what happened when we sent her off the line for some rest and she refused to sleep, just because she didn't want to leave?"

"She refused to sleep, because she was mad at you?" Webster asked slowly, trying to comprehend the ridiculousness of her actions. He hadn't heard this story before.

Lip smiled, enjoying the memory of a happier time. "Well, it was about a week before Christmas . . ."

123

"Joe? It's time to leave. Joe? Babe, help me stand him up."

Joe was startled out of his stupor upon feeling two sets of hands lifting him up. "Ge'off a me. I can walk on m'own," he slurred, trying to break free of Doc and Babe.

"Yeah, sure you can," Doc said, grunting when Joe elbowed him in the stomach. "Could you at least try to walk?"

With much effort on Doc and Babe's part, they were able to manhandle Joe back the barracks. They yanked off his boots and got him out of his coat before throwing a blanket over him. They looked at their friend with pity before heading off to their own beds.

The next morning, Joe woke with a groan, not even bothering to open his eyes. "Jesus fucking Christ," he moaned.

"Here you go, Joe. Take these. They'll help," a voice said, a little to Joe's left. He also felt someone poking him.

"Doooooc, you're talking too fucking loouud," he moaned. He finally turned his head and opened his eyes angrily when the poking refused to stop. Two hands were in front of his face; one had two pills, the other, a glass of water. He slowly sat up and took the medicine offered to him.

Doc chuckled at his friend's disheveled state. "Ya look like ya have the hangover from hell."

"Feels like I have the hangover from hell," Joe mumbled, taking another drink of the cool water. "What the hell happened last night?" His head was still fuzzy and he couldn't recall anything past waking up yesterday and getting ready to . . .

"Chris!" he yelled, jumping up. He sat down just as quickly as a sharp pain shot through his head.

"Easy there, Joe," Doc cautioned, laying a hand on Joe's shoulder to keep him in place.

"Where's Chris? How is she?" Joe asked persistently.

"She's still at the hospital. She's doin' better, a lot better." Doc looked hesitant, but continued nonetheless. He knew it would be better to tell Joe here, instead of somewhere else where he could cause more destruction. "Yesterday, Major Winters gave us a new order: we can't go within twenty feet of the hospital that Christine's at."

Doc carefully watched Joe's reaction. He would have been amused at the way Joe kept opening and closing his mouth like a fish if it wasn't for how red his face was getting. Doc didn't think it was healthy how fast and how red Joe's face got. In fact, Doc was beginning to worry that Joe might burst a vessel.

"What do you mean? We can't go check on Christine?" Joe's voice grew louder with each word he said. Doc tightened his grip on Joe's shoulder to keep him seated.

"Doctor's orders. But she's doin' a lot better now, Joe." Doc was trying to distract Joe so that his anger would dissipate.

"Why the hell don't I remember any of this?" Joe asked. He was desperately grasping at the images floating in his mind, but he couldn't quite piece together just what happened yesterday.

"Because right after we were dismissed, you took off to find the nearest bar. You started drinking in da late mornin' and didn' stop til late last night," Doc told him with a quiet chuckle. "Babe and I had ta drag your skinny ass to the barracks."

It started coming back to Joe. The rage he felt at the stupid order, the search for alcohol, then the drinking. After a few bottles, his memories were fuzzy, but he could dimly recall the feel of two pairs of hands trying to stand him up and get him back to his bed.

"Isn't it enough to know that she's improving?" Doc softly inquired, though he knew it wasn't. Sure, being told that she was recovering eased their worries a shade, but it wasn't the same as seeing her for themselves.

"I want to see her," Joe chocked out. "The last time I saw her, she was scared out of her mind. She was fucking terrified of me. I gotta see her, Doc. I gotta."

The pain that was written plainly on Joe's face wasn't a stranger to Doc. He felt the exact same way. "I know, Joe. I know. But it's for the best. We'll see her when she's ready."

"But what if she's never ready?" Joe asked, voicing their deepest fear.

"She will be. I just know it," Doc assured him. He squeezed Joe's shoulder one last time before getting up and leaving.

123

It had been two days since _the incident_ and Holly had been carefully observing Christine during that time. She had gained some weight that he guessed she had lost in Bastogne. Most of the people in the hospital now knew quite a bit about her, all of it coming from stories about 'her boys', or on the rare occasion, a tale of her childhood. There were some things she avoided talking about, all of them concerning her kidnappings.

Holly had tried talking about_ the incident,_ but she would always walk away or stare back at him with a face made of stone, reminiscent of a certain, scary Captain. He had even tried getting Sarah to ask her about going back to her job as a field nurse, only to face the same reaction. He was tempted to tell Major Winters that Christine could have visitors now, but he was afraid it might destroy the confidence she had built up. He was a patient man, so he wouldn't resort to that, yet, but if he couldn't get an answer out of her in the next week , drastic measures would be taken.

Holly sighed and continued unloading the shipment of supplies that had just arrived when he heard the voice. "Excuse me, Doc. I need to talk to you."

Holly whirled around to come face to face with Nix. "How may I help you, officer?" he asked. 'He shouldn't be here,' Holly thought as he waited for Nix to answer.

"I need a favor," Nix said, looking around as if avoiding someone. "I really need to speak with Christine, preferably somewhere private." Nix saw him thinking and pressed on. "Look, you said she was doing better, practically back to normal. You did your job. Now it's time for her to come back to us, okay?"

"I would like nothing more than for her to return to your Easy Company, sir, but she refuses to even talk about returning. Whenever I try to discuss the possibility of her leaving, she becomes tight-lipped and walks away."

Nix nodded his head. "That's why I have to talk to her. You don't understand, Doc. We can't function without her. It's been hell, trying to keep the boys away. We're all she's got; she needs us, just like we need her. Please," he added. He'd beg if he needed to.

"All right, follow me," Holly instructed. He was conflicted. Christine adamantly refused to see any one out of the hospital, but they were all she talked about. Holly led Nix to the room Christine was staying in. "Wait here and I will go get here."

Nix looked around the room before plopping down on the bed. It had taken him two days to finally escape the watchful eye of his friend. He was finally able to leave under the pretext of searching for some decent alcohol when Winters was distracted. Now that he was here though, he wasn't quite sure what to say. 'Oh, well. That's never stopped me before.'

All too soon, the door opened and Christine walked inside. "What are you doing here?"

Sure, he had been prepared for the hostility, but it just didn't seem right coming from their gentle nurse. "I came here to check up on my favorite nurse," he replied, flashing her a large smile. He truly was happy to see her looking better, less like a shell of a being.

"Well, I'm fine, so you can leave. There door's right there," she said, jerking her head in the direction of the door.

"Geez, kid. I missed you and you don't even seem to care," he complained, though it was apparent that he was trying to lighten the mood.

"Look, I'm grateful for all that you boys have done for me, but it's over. Now, all I want to see of you is your back as you're walking out the door, Nix. You can go tell the rest that I say 'thanks and have a good life', because I am not going back." She finished by crossing her arms over her chest and stared at Nix.

It didn't go unnoticed that she sounded defensive, though he wasn't sure why she would be defensive. He suddenly turned serious as he addressed her. "Are you finished with your little speech? Good, because now it's your turn to listen to me. You're going to come back to us. Maybe not today, but you will soon. You want to come back and we want you to come back. We have all missed you, so much."

"You have got to be the only woman on this planet that has a whole company of men waiting for her. First we waited in agony, not knowing where the hell you were for days, only to have to find you and bring you back in less than perfect condition. We were then told that we couldn't see you. We accepted that and prayed that Doc and Liebgott could help you. When they couldn't, we took you to someplace that could. We've been waiting over a week to hear of any sign of improvement. Then Dick gets a call. The doctor said, 'Yeah, she's doing great. She's helping out in the hospital and everything. By the way, she doesn't want to see any of you, so if you could stay the hell away from the only hospital on base, that'd be great.' Yeah, that went over real well. Did you know that the boys hadn't even gone out drinking? The first thing they wanted to do was see you, only to be told that you didn't want to see them. This weekend, I think every man, with the exception of Dick, spent the weekend inside of a bottle."

Chris looked shocked at what she was hearing. Nix took that as a good sign: he was getting through to her. He continued. "Like I said, they've been a mess. They've been a mess, I've been a mess, you've been a mess. And you know what would fix all of this? If you came back. We just want our nurse back. That same nurse who has drawn all of us to her like moths to a flame. Our little sister and our own ray of sunshine. Nothing's changed, Chris. We all still love you and we miss you. Don't you dare tell me that you don't want to see us again, because that would be the biggest lie I have ever heard."

"Nix . . ." Her mind was racing. Nix had just confronted her worst fears and told her that she was worrying for nothing. It didn't matter that Holly had said basically the same thing because he didn't mean anything. But, hearing Nix say that they wanted her back, no matter that she was so tainted, was the best thing she had ever heard. He even seemed sincere.

"Well, I've said my piece. I better be heading back. You cost me some Vat 69, Chris. I had to sneak away, saying that I was looking for some whiskey, when I came to visit you instead. Remember what I said, kid. Have a good day." Nix walked out with a wave of his hand. Remembering her expression as he left, he could tell that he had guessed right about her worrying over wether or not they actually wanted her back. It seemed like she believed him. Now it was all up to her.

Chris walked out of her room stunned. She was pulled out of her thoughts by someone grabbing her arm. Looking down, she recognized the person who stopped her. "Derek?"

Chris spent a lot of time talking to Derek. He was laid up in bed because of some bullet wounds in his side. He enjoyed coaxing a story from her then regaling her with a tale of his own to make her laugh. "What are you still doing here?" he asked, his face more serious than she had ever seen.

"What?" She was confused, to say the least.

"I'm not stupid, Christine. That man came here to convince you to go back to your boys. Why haven't you?"

She blushed. Usually Derek would laugh at her, but he refused to be distracted. "Well, I thought that . . . I thought they wouldn't want to see me," she whispered.

"That is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard." Derek's forceful reply caused Chris to look up at his face. "Those boys would want nothing more than to have you back with them. They way I see it, they'd do anything for you. Damn, I've known you a week and I'd get shot again if you would sit by my side to smile at me. You are someone special, Christine. Don't think otherwise." Derek's face softened and he squeezed her hand.

Christine felt tears come to her eyes. He was right. She knew what she had to do. "Thank you, Derek," she said. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to the center of his forehead.

"Go give 'em hell, Christine."

She nodded and squeezed his hand one last time before letting go and heading off to tell Holly of her decision.

_I may be getting slower at updating, but I would really appreciate if you would let me know what you think. I would like more reviews before I post. I think somewhere between 5 and 10 would be good (more would be nice). Hope you enjoyed the chapter._


	22. She's Back

_Author's Note: I would like to thank you for all of your continued support. This is actually the first chapter I have written in over a year, so it took me a while to get into the rhythm again. I have also been busy. Hopefully I can update a bit sooner. I know this is short, but hopefully it will tide you through the next update. Please let me know what you think._

It had been three days since Nix snuck away to visit Christine. Three days in which Chris would gather up her courage and prepare to leave the hospital, only to have doubt overtake her. What if Nix was wrong? What if her boys didn't want to see her, if they were repulsed by her?

It was on the third day that a gift arrived for one Christine Engel, Easy Company Field Nurse. The 'gift' was a bottle of Vat69 with a note attached. The note read as follows: 'Kid, I hope you haven't forgotten what I told you. By the way, I want this back. -Your Favorite Intelligence Officer'.

With the arrival of the note, along with three days of stewing of Nix's speech and much coaxing from Derek, Chris was ready to return to her boys.

Holly jumped when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He had just received a letter from his wife back in the States and was reading it so intently, he hadn't heard anyone approach. The surprise was quite clear on his face when he saw that it was Christine who was behind. She rarely sought him out and he had never seen her this lively. "Christine?"

She appeared to be an even mix of nervous and excited. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me. You gave me a room to hide in when I needed it, then a hospital to work in. You always kept an eye out for me and looked after me. Thank you so much."

Holly was taken back. "You're most definitely welcome. What brought this on?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.

Her eyes were shining brightly with anticipation when she answered. "I have decided that it is time for me to move on. I am going back to Easy Company to resume my post as their field nurse."

"And what made you decide that?" Could that officer's plan really have worked?

Christine grinned slyly. "A little birdie flew by and whispered in my ear. He reminded me that families stick together and Easy Company was sorely missing part of theirs. He told me that as a nurse, it was my job to help ease soldiers' pain, and those men could be fixed quite easily. I figured he was right; it is time for me to return to my boys."

Holly knew his jaw dropped. 'Are you kidding me?!' he thought. 'Sarah and I have been telling her this for days and she brushed us off like the imaginary dirt on her shoulder. She's ready to go back just like that?' He cleared his throat when he noticed Christine waiting for a response. "That's fantastic. Though we will miss having you around, it's for the best. When are you planning on leaving?"

"Right now. I just wanted to say goodbye to you before I headed out."

"Oh. Well, it's been a pleasure having you around, Christine. Please take care of yourself." Holly's face betrayed his feelings. While he was happy that she was ready to go back, he would miss her help here in the hospital. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the selfish thought and gave her a bright smile.

Christine held out her hand. "I would give you a hug, but . . ." He knew that she still wasn't ready for that kind of contact, at least, not from him. Her boys on the other hand . . . He clasped her hand in both of his. "Like I said, thank you for helping me. You have truly, truly helped me."

Holly released her hands and she walked away, calling back, "Goodbye, Holly. I wish you will find happiness and peace when this is all over."

Many of the patients and other nurses stopped what they were doing to watch her walk to the door. They were sad to see her go, but her stay never was meant to be permanent. Derek caught Christine's eye as she was leaving and they shared one last smile before Christine walked out the doors, back to her boys.

As soon as the doors swung shut, Holly raced to the phone in his little 'office'. A voice asked him how they could be of assistance. "Yes, I'd like to speak with Major Winters, please," he requested.

"One moment, please," the voice said. The voice was always polite, Holly noted as he waited for his call to be put through.

Holly could hear some scuffling on the other end of the line before he heard the Major speak. "Major Winters. This is Ryan Holly. I have some fantastic news for you."

Hope filled Winters when he heard the excitement in the surgeon's voice. "Yes?" he whispered hoarsely.

Holly grinned. "Christine has decided that she is ready to return to you!" His excitement caused him to talk rather loudly. People near his 'office' looked at him when he yelled, but seeing that he appeared fine, let him be.

"She wants to see us?! She's really coming back?" The need to be loud was contagious. Winters didn't realize how loud he had been and was so delighted that he missed the scuffles outside of his open window.

"Yes, sir. She's on her way over to you boys now, I believe. She left about two minutes ago," Holly said with a chuckle.

"Thank you very much. I can't possibly thank you enough for getting her back to us," Winters told him before hanging up. He couldn't wait to see her again and the faces the men would make when they saw her would be absolutely priceless. Her return would also save him from worrying about the amount of alcohol the men were going through; it seemed like they were seeing if they could drink the town dry every night.

Winters sank into the chair behind his desk and sighed with relief.

123

Tab had just dropped of some papers for Captain Nixon and was on his way back to the rest of the boys when he walked by an open window. Normally this of no concern to him, but Major Winters' voice was coming from this window and he was almost yelling. Tab stopped to try to figure out what could affect the Major so. Chris was ready to come back! Tab had to slap his hand over his mouth to prevent Winters from hearing him. 'This is great! I have to go get the boys!'

He ran to the area outside of the barracks Easy Company was occupying. Most of the men were outside. The all looked up when they heard Tab shouting. "Guys! Come on! Chris!" He was waving his arms, trying to get their attention.

"What's goin' on?" Bull asked the flushed man.

Tab took a deep breath and tried to slow down so he didn't trip over his words. "I just heard Major Winters on the phone and he said that Chris was ready to come back. This means we can go get her!" He ended up rushing the last part, but all of the men understood. They clambered to their feet.

Bull turned around to stand in front of the men. "Now wait a minute, here. Are you sure we can go bring her back?" he asked Tab.

Gene, who had been talking to Babe, looked over at Bull and asked his own question as a response, "Are you sure you want to pass up a chance to go see her?"

The answer was obvious. Bull turned around and said, "Let's go, boys. We got ourselves a nurse to go find."

Gene looked over to where Joe was sitting. Joe had looked up when Tab came shouting Chris' name. His hopeful and regretful expression that he wore whenever someone mentioned their nurse shifted to pure hopefulness by the time Bull led them off to the hospital. 'Thank God. Not only is Chris better and I can finally get inta that damn hospital again, I don' have to worry 'bout Joe's liver anymore or drinking himself to death.'

123

Winters was still seated behind his desk filling out reports when only a few minutes later, whoops of joy could be heard sailing past his window. When he poked his head out, he saw almost every man from Easy Company racing towards the hospital, grinning like they were crazy. 'They must have overheard me talking to Holly on the phone,' he thought with a shake of his head.

Just as he was finishing up a report, he heard someone knock on his already open door. Winters looked up in time to see a flash of long dark blonde hair before he realized that whoever just came in closed the door. The rather feminine sigh of relief brought his attention back to his visitor. Only years of practicing control kept him from jumping out of his chair. "Chris! You're here!"

Chris laughed at him before saying, "Yes, sir, I am here. I couldn't very well leave my family to fend for themselves, now could I, sir?"

She walked around the desk, holding out her hand. Winters hesitated. He reached out to grab her hand. A handshake? Was that what they were forced to because of those bastards? A hug was normal, but he didn't want to ruin the progress she made. Holly did say that she seemed to be functioning just fine in an everyday setting and warned them not to treat her differently. Like the true commander he was, Winters quickly analyzed these thoughts and came to a decision. He grabbed her extended hand and pulled her into a hug. His relief showed clearly on his face when she almost immediately returned the hug. After a few seconds, they pulled away. Winters was curious and had to ask, "How did you manage to avoid the men? They took off about five minutes ago to go meet you?"

Christine turned her head to the side and looked a bit sheepish. She reached up to scratch the back of her head as she replied. "I was about halfway here when I heard a lot of yelling. I did not want to make a scene so I ducked around a corner and waited for them to pass. I also kind of snuck around Nix once I was here and found you as quickly as I could."

'Typical Chris,' Winters thought as he shook his head. "I can't wait to see their reactions when they finally find you. I half expected to hear them when they found you, but now I can actually see their faces."

"So, where should I go?"

Winters took a minute to think about this. "Well, I would like to minimize property damage, so I would suggest an open area. They will be loud and they are probably panicking right now because they can't find you. I suggest we go to them," he finished with a smile.

They walked out of Winters' office when they ran into Nix. He felt no need to exercise the same control as Winters' and leapt out of his chair to hug Chris. "Well, well, well. If it isn't our missing nurse. The clouds have parted to let our little ray of sunshine back. It took you long enough. Did you get lost?"

Chris pulled away to frown at Nix. "I don't have a homing device, like some kind of pigeon. Besides, I came back, so no complaints from you, Mr. Birdie."

Nix and Winters both choked out, "Mr. Birdie?"

"It's nothing," Nix managed. Chris was too busy chuckling at them. She finally remembered that she was carrying the bottle of Vat69 he sent her and handed it to him. He accepted it with a big show before running to hid it in his office. He came back out and stared at the other two.

Winters still looked confused but didn't press the issue. Sometimes with Nix it was better not to know. "We better go find those men. I don't want to have to write them up for disruptive behavior. I have enough paperwork already."

"Really?" Chris asked, face showing concern. She never really had to understand the non-combative parts of war, other than how to write up supply reports for hospitals. This got the two officers started on the tediousness of paperwork as they went off to find the now panicking men of Easy Company.


	23. Happy Reunion

Author's Note: First, a big thank you to all of the reviewers. I know I don't update often, but I really appreciate knowing what you all think, so please, continue reviewing. I am sorry that this took so long. Almost two weeks ago, I had finished this chapter, but my computer crashed before I could save it. Stupid mistake. Sorry again. Enjoy the chapter, though it is a bit short.

The doors to hospital flew open. Everyone inside, doctor and patient alike, turned to gawk at the men spilling in, all calling for a "Chris". They were dressed like American soldiers and did not appear to be wounded, but they were looking around the hospital frantically. Fortunately, Sarah had been near the door and moved in front of the group to prevent them from entering the hospital further. She had a feeling that she knew who they were and what havoc they might wreck searching for Chris. "How may I help you boys?" she asked, arms folded across her chest.

Tab, who happened to be closest to her answered. "We're looking for someone. Our nurse . . . Her name is Chris and she is-"

"I know who she and if you all are looking for her, then you men must be from Easy Company." Sarah smiled at the look of shock on Tab's face when he finally turned to look at her. 'He is kind of handsome,' she thought to herself.

"How'd you know?" he asked before quickly resuming his scan of the hospital. Even though none of the men were able to move past Sarah, they were still looking for their nurse. Admittedly, there weren't too many places she could be, so if they hadn't spotted her yet, then probably she wasn't there.

Sarah continued smiling as she replied. "She wouldn't stop talking about you boys. Chris told me so much that I was able to recognize you on sight. I'm sorry, but you just missed her. She left here maybe ten minutes ago."

Now everyone turned to look at Sarah. "Left? What do you mean left? She was supposed to be here recovering and then waiting for us to come get her!"

Tab, finally looking at the woman whom he had been talking to, realized she was quite pretty. It was only recently that the men had the chance to be around women, all at the bars right off of base, but there were a lot more men than women around. Maybe he would come back later, after finding their wayward nurse, and ask her to go out drinking with him later. Judging by the way she was looking at him, he had a strong feeling that she wouldn't turn him down.

Too many people were talking for Sarah to actually understand what they were saying but she got the general idea. "Sorry boys, but she must have missed the memo and decided to find her own way home. Now will you kindly leave us the hell alone? You are disturbing the patients and preventing me from working."

The men did leave, but it was only because Chris wasn't there. They most definitely did not leave because they were ordered to by some nurse that they didn't even know. The only nurse they took orders from was their nurse, Chris, who happened to be MIA.

"Where the fuck do we go now?" Christenson asked out loud. Now they had no idea where Chris would be if she wasn't in the hospital.

It was decided that they would head back to the barracks and wait for Chris to come to them. There wasn't anything else to do unless they wanted to wander around, looking for her.

"Why the hell didn't we see her on our way here?" Perconte grumbled. The men had been so excited to see there nurse that the disappointment of not finding her dragged their moods down considerably.

"We could of just missed her," Babe suggested in response. They were so focused on getting to the hospital, it was quite possible they didn't see her.

Perconte snorted. "Are you kidding? There's almost twenty of us. No way did she manage to walk past us without someone noticing her."

Babe managed to keep his natural red-headed temper in check and not snap at his short friend when he replied but he was sorely tempted to. He took a calming breath before saying, "Maybe she took another route. She could have left from the back of the hospital and walked back to the barracks a whole different way than the one we used to get there, making it totally possible for us to not see her."

"Whatever," Perconte muttered.

The men walked in disappointed silence back to the barracks. Just a little ways in front of the barracks, they could make out a single person just standing in the middle of the road. No one thought anything of this strange behavior until they got closer and found that it was Chris. A collective "Chris!" was shouted before the men took off running to their newly returned nurse. But just when they were a few feet from her, they stopped, unsure of how to proceed. It didn't help that Chris stood there and didn't say anything. But by looking at her face, the boys were able to see that she was excited to see them, nervous because she didn't know what they thought of her, fearful that they might reject her and hopeful that they would welcome her back like nothing happened.

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Nix, watching from beside a building with Winters, chuckled to himself at the awkwardness of the scene. 'If there isn't any outside intervention, they would be stuck staring at each other all day,' he thought to himself. Being the kind person that he is, he decided to help them out. "Ok, everyone," he called out, moving towards Chris, "if you all get in a single file line, you can each have a turn welcoming our nurse back. One line, please, no pushing, shoving, biting or spitting. Everyone will get a turn." Who says he couldn't have a little fun while doing it?

Surprisingly, the men actually got in a single file line to address their nurse. Luz was in the front of the line and hesitantly put his arms around Chris. "Glad you found your way back, Chris," he told her.

Chris could only nod. She was so overcome with emotion she was afraid if she opened her mouth to reply she would start crying.

Luz grabbed her hand to place it on his cheek. Before she could wonder what he was doing, he said, "See, Chris? We even shaved."

Chris finally did laugh and she rubbed his cheek. Only Luz would remember her stating her preference for clean-shaven men. "I missed you," she finally managed to say.

"Missed you too." He gave her one last squeeze then moved out of the way so that the next person could see her.

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The men greeted their nurse, one by one. Gene waited, his impatience showing in his constant fidgeting. He was second to last in line, only in front of Joe. He forced Joe to wait at the back of the line because he had a feeling that Joe wouldn't let Chris go once he got a hold of her, so he wanted to give everyone else a chance to say hello before she was monopolized.

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After much waiting, after agonizing minutes of watching other men hug Chris, it was finally Joe's turn. Disregarding the past few minutes and instead remembering Chris' reaction to him the last time he had seen her, he went up to her and stopped about a foot away from her. "Hey, Chris."

"Hello, Joe." The greeting was oddly reminiscent of when she saw him after meeting the rest of Easy Company, back in Bastogne. "I-" she started to get choked up. "I really missed you, Joe. I'm sorry I was gone so long. I just-"

Joe couldn't stand it any longer. He roughly pulled her to him. "It's ok. You're back. That's all the matters. I won't ever let anything happen to you. I swear it," he whispered harshly.

Their cheeks were pressed together, which is the only way that Joe had known she had started crying. He gently pulled back enough to bring a thumb to her face to wipe away the tears running down her face. "Hey, now. Knock it off," he ordered, smiling gently. "You know that I, that we, can't stand it when you cry."

She smiled as she rubbed her eyes, tears now gone. Joe released her, but kept one arm slung around her shoulder as they walked over to where the rest of the men were waiting. With Chris, and Joe by default, roughly in the center of the group, they started to head back to the barracks, happy that their family was as complete as it could be without their fallen brothers.

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Winters was walking a ways behind the men when he heard Nix softly exclaim, "Oh shit."

He looked over at his alarmed companion. "What?" he questioned.

"Sparky."

"Shit," Winters said in agreement. They had forgotten to tell the temperamental captain of their nurse's return. Now they just needed to go find him before he hears that she is back from someone else and realizes he wasn't immediately informed. He should probably be-Damn it. Right in front of them.

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Speirs had been doing some paperwork when he went to ask Major Winters a question. Finding his office empty, Speirs decided to see if he was talking to Nix. Upon finding Nix's also empty office, he decided to ask the men if they had seen either one of the other officers. He was heading over to the barracks when he saw some of the men walking in a large group. As he made his way to them, he noticed long, dark blonde hair and froze in shock. Chris was back.

As if she noticed him now staring at her, Chris turned and found herself looking at a shocked (well, as shocked as Speirs could look) Speirs. "Ron?" Chris ducked out from under Joe's arm to quickly walk over to the last person she needed to say hello to.

When she got closer, Speirs stood up straight and put on a mask of indifference. "Nurse. It's good to see you."

"It's good to be back, sir," she said, grinning. Chris wasn't at all put off by his lack of enthusiasm and hugged him. Speirs was torn. He wanted nothing more than to let her know he was glad that she was back. But he didn't want any of his men to see him go soft.

There wasn't really any need to make a decision. Chris, knowing that while he might have difficulty saying something sentimental, knew how he felt. "I missed you too, Ron," she mumbled into his chest.

Speirs immediately softened and hugged her tightly, and smiled. The men watching wanted to start laughing at the big, bad, scary-no-terrifying officer hugging their sweet little nurse. But they could only smile because laughter would mean imminent death if said officer heard them.

Speirs allowed himself a moment of happiness before he pulled away, glared at the men, whom he rightly guessed her laughing at him, and walked off. Only twenty paces later did he remember the reason he was out in the first place. He paused, then decided to continue going back to his office. His question could wait a few minutes.

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Joe was not happy while this touching reunion was going on. When Chris slid his arm off her shoulder, his first instinct was to put it back. When she walked away, he wanted to stop her and never let her leave him. And when she hugged Speirs, he was the tiniest bit jealous. But he couldn't have been more happy when she walked back and went straight to his side, right where she belonged.


	24. Back Off!

_March 3, 1945_

It had only been a few days since her reunion with her boys but Chris was already bored bored bored bored. She just didn't have anything to do. Sure, she now knew about 5 different card games (none of which she was good at) and how to throw darts (which she seemed to do well with. So well that Luz was trying to get her to play with her off hand in order to scam his friends when they placed bets, though she couldn't figure out why pain flashed through his eyes when he first mentioned it), but those games could only hold her interest for so long. When she was with her parents, they were always at a hospital or in transit, so there wasn't really any time to be bored. Her boys got some down time, so there was no need to patch anyone up. This was the first time she really had a chance to sit back and relax for more than a day or two.

Before the incident, she would have been volunteering at the hospital, but two things prevented her from doing that. First off, from the time she was there, she knew that there was surprisingly little do to. The war was pretty much over, so the hospital was just a resting stop until the soldiers could be transported back home. And the other and probably most important reason: Chris would be unable to work if she had a group of men following her around everywhere.

When Chris first got back, she loved the fact that her boys were willing to stay by her side all the time. After being gone from them so long, she wanted to be with them as much as possible. The men felt the same way and never strayed too far from her for long. It was like a ball of rubber bands: you could pull one section away only so far before it snapped back into place with the rest of the mass. They would freely admit that they were more than a little uncomfortable if their nurse was out of sight. She got hurt because they weren't watching her once and they'd be damned if she got hurt when she was them again.

But Chris had always been fast to recover and after the second day, she started to grow annoyed with this clinginess. Admittedly, she would probably spend most of her time with her boys anyway, even if it was just sitting in a corner and listening to them chat the day away, but there were times when she felt like being alone. Ok, it wasn't possible to be completely alone on a small military base, but not once has she been able to just go for a walk around the base without having what seemed to be an escort walking alongside her. They were on a military base in the middle of nowhere, for Christ's sake. In the unlikely event that they were attacked, it would be pretty easy to tell early on. But she accepted their antics with silence, an eye roll and a tight smile. She_ knew_ how they felt, understood their fear, but they were taking this to the extreme and soon she would snap.

It turns out that "soon" translated into later that afternoon. Chris had been watching some of the men play basketball from a crate under a tree when she got up to use the restroom. As soon as he saw her start to rise, Lieb stood up from his poker game with Luz and Perco, much to their displeasure. "Hey, Chris. Wait up," he commanded when she started to walk away.

SNAP. 'That's it!' Chris thought. 'I can't take this oppression any longer.' Chris stopped walking and very slowly turned back to face Joe. The other men could sense the tension in the air and looked up to see what was going on. "It's fine, Joe," she said shortly, looking straight at Joe, but still noticing the expression on the faces of her audience. Realizing her tone caused more than a few men to raise an eyebrow, she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I will be right back. An escort is not necessary when I am walking around base. I am quite capable of finding my way around, alone."

"It doesn't matter if you know how to get there, wherever 'there' is, you are not going by yourself," Joe insisted.

Chris' eyes turned hard. "Yes, I am."

Joe stared right back at her, stubbornly refusing to back down. "No, you're not."

"Yes, I am!" she finally yelled. She was sick and tired of this and if they couldn't take a hint, she would flat out tell them. Now, she was talking to all of them when she said, "Stop babying me! I can't even get a few minutes to myself! You all are so annoying! I just wish you would leave me alone! At least back at the hospital they let me have some time to myself and weren't hovering over my shoulder every minute of the day!" She was breathing hard and her face had turned bright red, trying to let out all of her frustration, but she wasn't quite finished yet. "I am going to walk away now and not a single one of you is going to follow me," she finished, turning around and slowly walking away.

The men were shocked. Never before had their nurse talked to them that way. Sure, she's yelled before, but that was when they were in the middle of a battle and she needed to be heard. But this time she had actually yelled at them, at THEM. And to top it all off, not only did she say that she did not need them, she said she didn't want them. Mentioning her stay at the hospital was also hitting below the belt. They had been so worried about her when she was there and they still felt guilty that they couldn't protect her and now she was saying she liked being there better than being with them? It hurt, a lot. She looked like she was furious with each and every one of them. There was not a man there that was willing to go after her when she so desperately wanted to be left alone. They could only stand and watch her walk away, wondering what they had missed.

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_2 hours later_

Chris had finally calmed down enough to stop her internal ranting towards her boys. She had walked over to a little used corner of the base, far away from anyone after using the restroom. She hadn't seen anyone here since she left the hospital and figured it would be a good place to get away. Finally sitting down on a dusty crate, she took some time to think about what she had told her boys. They seemed to finally understand that she could look after herself. It was nice not having someone constantly breathing down her neck. But now that she'd had her alone time, Chris was starting to feel a little bit lonely. She didn't have anyone left except Easy Company and wasn't used to being alone. After some more reflection, Chris admitted, 'I might have been a little harsh, but they wouldn't get it otherwise! It needed to be done. But, I probably didn't need to yell.' She was driving herself further into guilt and didn't realize she had headed back to the barracks until she heard her name being called.

Chris looked up to see Speirs. "Hello, Ron. How are you?" she politely inquired. He was one of the few men who hadn't felt the need to follow her around everywhere, so she felt no annoyance towards him.

"I'm fine." Speirs looked around and upon finding the nurse alone asked, "What are you doing out here, by yourself?"

Her previous anger was starting to trickle back, warming her body. "I was just out for a little walk. I don't need someone with me everywhere I go," she replied, her voice like steel. 'He hasn't been babying me. I can't lose my cool,' she told herself.

Speirs wasn't at all intimidated by the nurse. "It would be best if you were with someone at all times." Little did she know that he knew that the men had been keeping a close eye on her and he whole-heartedly approved. How were they supposed to protect her if she wasn't with them?

Chris' face grew red as her fury returned, full force. "That's nice, but I wanted to be alone. I wasn't going to leave the base and you can't order me around. Now, if you will kindly excuse me, I will be on my way." She walked past him, barely brushing his shoulder.

Speirs remained where he was, clenching his fists. If anyone else had talked to him that way, he would have made them regret their decision. But this was Chris, the kind young woman who sat with them through on the line, patching up their wounds with a smile. Speirs knew that if he turned around, he might say something that he would regret and he refused to hurt her further. When he calmed down, he would go find out what was causing her to act this way.

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The men didn't know what to do and remained where they were, thoughts all a mess. Gene was tired of waiting. He'd done enough of it on the line and he wanted no more of it, especially since he could actually do something. With a destination in mind, Gene quietly slipped away from his friends. The walk was short. He hoped that she would actually be at the hospital this time.

'And it must be my lucky day,' he thought to himself, seeing his target sitting on the front steps. He saw her watching him as he walked towards her. When he was about a foot away from her, he asked, "Mind if I join you?"

She shrugged but gestured to the space next to her anyway. "Of course not, Gene. You know I love your company."

He sat down and they both stared at the buildings in front of them. "I thought I knew, but now? Now, I'm not so sure," he said, turning his head to look at her.

Chris grimaced. "I'm sorry at yelling at you boys. I just wanted a chance to get some air without someone hovering over me," she explained.

Gene nodded his head. It really did make sense but they just wanted to be around her as much as possible. They hadn't even thought of their company as overbearing.

Silence had settled between the two and Chris didn't know if this meant that her boys were mad at her and sent Gene to deem her apology worthy of accepting. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "Can you forgive me?"

A smile tugged at Gene's lips. "I think that can be arranged."

She returned his smile full force and he was glad to see it. Chris leaned over so that her head could rest on his shoulder and grabbed his hand. "It's so peaceful here," she commented. He squeezed her hand in agreement, glad to have a chance to relax with the girl he had grown to think of as a younger sister.

The pair sat there for a good fifteen minutes until Gene gently pushed her head off of his shoulder and stood up. Chris looked up at him, smile dimming. "We should be headin' back soon." He offered the still sitting nurse his hand. She smiled again and took his hand and they walked back to the barracks to calm the rest of the men.

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Chris knew she shouldn't have been surprised by how easily the rest of the men forgave her for her outburst earlier. They promised that they would try to back off a little and she readily accepted their promise. She had been worried about how Joe, especially since he had refused to meet her eyes when she returned. Chris pushed Martin off of a crate and moved it so that she could sit right next to Joe, like how she had back in Bastogne. Joe looked over at her when he felt her warmth against his side. "Sorry, Joe."

Joe took a deep breath and let it out. He couldn't stay mad at her. "It's fine." Chris nestled closer to him and he wrapped an arm around her before returning to his card game.

An hour later, a frustrated Perconte stood up and threw his cards down. "That's it!" he yelled, pointing at Chris and Joe, causing both of them to look up at him bearing identical looks of puzzlement. "Every since she sat next you, you've been winning practically every hand. This ain't right!"

"'Course he's winning," Luz said, lighting a cigarette. "Why wouldn't he be? He's got a lovely lady at his side. She's probably attracting all the good cards."

"Well then, Joe, stop monopolizing our nurse. Hey, Chris! Come sit with me. I want to win some hands, too," Perconte ordered her. He sounded so indignant that those who heard his little outburst could help but laugh at him.

"C'mon, Chris," Babe coaxed. "Perco's right. It's not fair that you keep sitting next to Joe. What's wrong with the rest of us?" he asked before breaking into a sly smile, "We even shaved, so you can't use that as an excuse."

Chris could feel her face heating up: not only were they complimenting her, but they couldn't seem to let her live down that "I like men who are clean-shaven" remark. As she stood up to leave, Joe grabbed her hand, stopping her. His eyes asked her to stay but she shook her head. "It's time for me to leave. I'm just going over to the other table." She pulled and he reluctantly let her hand go and watched her walk over to Bull.

Perconte and Luz waited a moment then shared a look before calling out, "Hey lover-boy. Stop making goo-goo eyes and pay attention. It's your turn."

Joe turned around, pink dusting his cheeks. "I'll pay and wipe the floor with you guys. Let's see how much talking your going to do after I kick your asses," he snapped at them, much to their amusement.

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That night, before falling asleep, Chris looked to her left and then to her right and thought about how lucky she was to be in a place where most of the people liked her (except for Cobb, but who needed him anyway?). Gene always slept on his right side so that he was facing her while Joe, who was to her right, slept on his back but never failed to sling an arm out towards her. They had done this every night since her return from the hospital. If she ever woke up from a nightmare she would have her two best friends beside her and could grasp their hands until the darkness left her mind. There wasn't any other place she would rather be.

_Author's note: Sorry for the wait, but I finally finished this chapter. Please let me know what you think, the parts you liked and what could use some work. Thanks so much for sticking with me._


	25. Walking Through Town

_Author's Note: Here ya go. The real chapter. It's a bit of a filler, since it doesn't have any scenes from the series, but it's a 3600 word chapter. Better than nothing, right?_

_March 11, 1945 Sturzelberg, Germany_

It was so weird, being around all of these civilians, Chris thought as she walked through town. Her boys were loving their stay for many reasons. "Probably because all of the pretty women here," Chris muttered to herself.

"What was that, Chris?" Babe asked. He and Chris were enjoying the sunshine and nice weather. The town they were in was fairly peaceful and the citizens, mainly women and some older folks, were out and about. Easy had started making its way through Germany, and thankfully, it has been a peaceful journey.

Chris quickly looked up at Babe. "Oh, it's nothing. I was just admiring how nice and warm it is," she replied with a smile. It was true. One of the best things was that spring was coming and it was warm. After spending months in the snowy forests, the warmer weather was much appreciated.

Babe returned the smile, happy to see Chris so content. This place was great. It had booze and willing women aplenty. Forget the cold and the war, there wasn't too much to do here except relax and walk patrols from time to time.

Babe saw a very pretty woman walking towards them and put on his best smile. She winked as she walked by and said something in German. Chris scowled when she stopped, but Babe couldn't keep the grin off of his face as the woman spoke. Babe watched her until she turned the corner. Finally he remembered his companion. "Chris. Chris. What'd she say?"

Chris had a mild look of disgust on her face. "She gave the name of the bar that's a few blocks down. She'll be there at 8 o'clock tonight." Yuck. These men and their _needs_. At least they had the decency to go to the girl's place. Chris could only imagine how awkward it would be if she walked in on one of them in the barracks. It was bad enough to ask where one of her boys were only to be told he was getting laid. Her face would always heat up with their crass language and they never missed an opportunity to tease her. They only ones who used some tact were the married men, Winters and Ron.

Babe was now grinning wildly at the prospect of a fun night. He looked back at Chris when she nudged him. "Don't you have patrol in the morning?" she pointedly asked.

Her lips began to form a pout when he laughed. "So what? I'll be a little tired, but it will definitely be worth it. Didn't you see her? She's the best lookin' broad we've seen. Why? Are you jealous?"

"No! I was just worried, but, whatever. Just don't be late to patrol in the morning. If you get in trouble, I'm not bailing you out."

Babe was still laughing when he said, "Sure thing." He ruffled her hair as they continued walking through town. It was great not having to sit around and wait for the Germans to start trying to drop bombs on them. He chuckled at her cute glare, but noticed that she didn't move away from him as she fixed her hair. 'Being able to stroll through town next to such a sweet girl, what a place Germany is, indeed,' he thought to himself.

Later that evening, Chris was sitting next to Gene, watching as he cleaned house in the poker game. It still got rather chilly in the evenings, so Chris took advantage of the body heat coming off of the medic. Gene didn't mind, not one bit. In fact, anytime Chris sat in on one of the card games, whomever she was next to seemed to win all of the games. For this reason, she wasn't allowed to stay too long: it caused too many fights. However, she would humor her boys and take turns sitting next to all of them.

As another hand was being dealt, Gene asked Chris without turning to look at her, "So, what happened t' Heffron? Thought the two of ya went out for a walk?" He blew out a puff of cigarette smoke while he waited for her frowned though, when he saw her face darken.

"We did go walking but then he left to go 'chat up' one of the locals at that bar you all are so fond of," she said. She wasn't mad or anything, but she could admit she was a bit selfish and didn't care one bit for her boys chasing skirts.

Gene put out his cigarette and started rubbing soothing circles on her back. "Aw, did the stupid boy leave our little nurse all alone to go chase some tail?" he asked teasingly as he picked up his cards with one hand.

Chris leveled him with a flat stare, but didn't push him away. She gave a sigh before conceding, "I know I am being selfish and silly. I apologize. But he better not miss patrol in the morning."

The men could only laugh at her. Their nurse could be rather possessive and she didn't take to sharing Easy very well. It was funny to see her get a bit possessive and kind of nice to know that someone was worried about them. She was their constant, their rock, and they did not mind her grumblings one bit.

Gene won another hand before Chris decided it was time to head out. Gene looked a little worried about her walking by herself, but after remembering her little tantrum over being followed everywhere, decided she could probably walk down the street without getting kidnapped. He bade her goodbye with the silent promise to go check the bar in half an hour to reassure himself that she actually made it. She cheerfully took her leave and wrapped her coat around her body a bit tighter. It was even colder outside. Chris started jogging down the street in an effort to warm up.

The warmth from inside could be felt right outside of the door, but it wasn't enough. Chris ducked in and looked around. Finally, after a minute of searching, she still couldn't find her target. Chris found and started to move forward when a hand grabbed her arm. Chris gasped and tried to spin out of the grasp.

She spun around to face Webster. His surprise showed on his face. His mouth remained open, before he cursed himself. He forgot that the nurse might not take very well to being grabbed. He smiled as he apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

Chris relaxed as soon as she saw the friendly face, but the tension didn't completely leave her body. She hated the fact that she startled so easily, but then again, didn't they all? The other day, a truck backfired and nearly everyone in the barracks dropped to the ground, thinking that someone had started firing on them. "Hey, Web. How are you?" she politely inquired.

"Aw, same old, same old. Went walking through town and found a book store. It's too bad that the books were all gone. I have the feeling that people are burning them because they are so short on fuel." His smile turned into a frown. It should be a crime to throw away books. He could tell that Chris agreed completely by the sorrow on her face. "But, I did happen to find a copy of Machiavelli."

Chris's face lit up. She had been dying to get her hands on one of his books. "Have you read it?" she demanded.

Webster chuckled. "Yeah, I started it. I'll give it to you when I'm done," he said. The happiness on her face warmed him. He loved being able to make her smile. Even though she shared her smiles with everyone, he liked it best when she smiled right at him. Joe, the lucky bastard, seemed to get more of her smiles than anyone else.

"Thank you so much!" Chris hugged him.

Webster, surprised for the second time that night, quickly returned the hug. He wasn't so quick to let go, but realized that they probably should move out of the doorway. "Why don't we move to the bar, so you can sit down?" he suggested. Chris nodded and followed him to two empty bar stools, her original target temporarily forgotten in the promise of an academic discussion.

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That was how Joe found them twenty minutes later, sitting elbow to elbow, heads bent together to be heard above the noise in the bar. His body was full of contradictions. His body warmed at the sight of the smiling nurse, yet froze when he saw Web lean in even closer, so that their foreheads were nearly touching. He managed to walk a bit closer, but it felt like trudging through molasses: the going was slow, the surroundings blurred, and the noise around him turned to a low chatter. His heart beat faster when he heard Chris, but it dropped when he realized that Web was giving her something he never could: a chance to talk about all of her educated things. She never seemed to mind that the only reason he passed high school was because he charmed half of his teachers. Sure, she would occasionally speak of all the stuff she learned or wanted to know, until she saw the glazed look he got in his eyes (he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about). She would gently close her mouth, smile softly and change the subject back to things he could understand.

He was right behind her now. Web saw him out of the corner of his eye and stopped talking. It might have been because of the glare Joe was giving him. Chris turned around to see why Web stopped talking and smiled brightly when she saw Joe. "Hey, Joe".

That was enough to make all of the pain, jealousy and guilt leave him. "Hey, Chris. Web." Joe barely acknowledged the other man, but at least it was something. He knew Chris would have a fit if anyone in the company started fighting. However, that did not stop him from turning to address the girl only. "So, what are you doing in here?"

Chris took a sip of the drink in front of her that Joe hadn't noticed. He would have been worried, but the liquid was clear and it was highly unlikely that their nurse would drink anything stronger than water. She was too much of a goody-goody. His eyes, which had followed the glass's path from her lips to the bar, moved back to her face when she replied. "I grew tired of watching Gene win all of the card games,so came looking for you. But you weren't here," she added, her voice colored with a hint of accusation. "But then Webster found me, and guess what?"

"What?" Joe asked, his smile widening at her excitement.

"He found a copy of one of Machiavelli's works and said he'd let me read it when he was done!"

If she was any less mature, Joe was sure she would be bouncing in her seat. Joe had no idea who this Machiavelli guy was, but Chris seemed pretty excited to have a chance to read one of his books. Was he that guy who wrote those plays he had to read back in high school? No, that was Shake-something. It didn't matter.

Webster sighed. "Well," he began, "It's getting rather late. I think I will head out. Guten nacht, Chris. Joe." Webster threw some money down on the bar, bowed his head to the nurse and headed out. It was obvious that he was going to be thrown to the curb as soon as Joe arrived, but it didn't help the disappointment he felt. At least he had some good conversation before. Webster sighed again before heading back to the barracks.

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Chris turned back to look at Joe. "Is it really that late?" she enquired. The hours seemed to melt away. Joe pushed back his sleeve and held his arm to her face, giving her a clear view of the face of his watch. She saw it was nearly after midnight. "Jesus! It is getting kind of late."

Joe chuckled and rolled his sleeve back down. "Do you want to head out?" he asked.

Instead of answering his question, she asked one of her own. "Do you?"

He couldn't tell if she cared either way, but he would leave if she wanted to go. "I was going to get another drink," he told her. He wasn't drunk and another beer wasn't going to make his head too fuzzy, just pleasantly warm.

Chris just patted the now empty bar stool. Joe obediently sat, idly wondering when he became a trained dog who would roll over on command. The bartender slid him a full glass and Joe tipped his head in thanks. The pair sat together, talking about trivial things as Joe finished his glass. When he was done, he fished around in his pocket for some change. He dropped the money on the counter and stood. Chris took the arm he offered and they walked out of the bar. The cold caused Chris to glue herself to Joe's side. Joe didn't say anything, he just slid his arm from her grasp and wrapped it around her shoulders to pull her closer.

123

Chris spotted Babe slinking into the back of the cafeteria. She couldn't wait for him to get over here; he hadn't been in the barracks when they woke up in the morning. Even though Chris hadn't seen who was on patrol, she would bet that Babe hadn't been there. He quickly got his food before slowly walking to the empty spot across the table from Chris. He nodded "Hello" before digging in. If he thought that would stop the other boys from hounding him, he was wrong.

Babe just grinned wildly at all the questions, but frowned when he felt someone kick his shin under the table. He finally looked to the nurse. "So, Babe, how many extra patrols were you given for showing up late?"

He looked a little sheepish before muttering, "Two extra 3 hour patrols".

Chris only smirked before she finished up her lunch. "Good," she said. "The more time you have to spend on patrol, the less time you will spend picking up diseases."

Babe scrunched up his face. "Don't say that," he pleaded. He really didn't want to catch something, and besides, there was nothing wrong with having a little fun now that they weren't being shot at all the time. "Besides, if I have to spend so much time patrolling, I won't be able to spend time with my favorite nurse," he added, with a sly grin.

"I'm your _only_ nurse," Chris replied, a light blush creeping up her face. "Gene and Spina are medics, so I'm the only real nurse around."

"That doesn't matter," Babe protested. "You're always going to be my favorite." He lightly kicked her foot since he couldn't reach out and ruffle her hair.

Ever the polite one, Chris made sure to thank him for the compliment before she grabbed her tray and stood up. She would have walked off, but a hand shot out and grabbed her sleeve. She tried to keep her tray balanced as she was abruptly pulled back down. She looked at Joe, the culprit. He had grabbed her without even looking up from his food. He swallowed his bread before answering her unspoken question. "Where are you going?"

The question wasn't asked out of protectiveness, but out of curiosity. "I was going to head out. I have finished eating and it's almost warm outside." She didn't try to get up again since she had the feeling that her sleeve would be grabbed again.

"Wait for me. I'll walk with you," he told her. He started shoving food into his mouth. His mother had taught him not to keep a lady waiting, after all.

"Ok. I was going to meet up with Malarkey, but you are more than welcome to walk with me as I go find him," she said. 'It is not fun to walk around a strange town by yourself,' she thought to herself.

Joe grabbed his tray and stood up. "Geeze, Chris. Do you have a schedule to spend time with us? You spend Mondays and Wednesdays with 3rd battalion, then Tuesdays and Thursdays with 2nd? Fridays with 1st?" he teased, looking back at her to shoot her a smile.

Chris gave a quick laugh as she dropped off her tray. "No, I just like to spend time with all of you. I almost miss the foxholes, because then I at least knew where everyone was supposed to be. You all were easier to find that way, too."

"So you take us all on walks in order to spend time with us," he clarified as they left the cafeteria. He wasn't sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, at least he wasn't the only one she had trained. Well, to be honest, she had them trained long ago. But this was different: she was basically walking them like dogs in a park! 'I suppose there isn't anything to bad about this,' Joe mused. 'At least no one is giving her any trouble. She's like a fucking princess with a whole company of gun-carrying bastards that turn into fuckin' servants at her littlest wish.'

The pair found the solemn sergeant near the building that has been claimed as headquarters after a short search of the town. Joe, somewhat reluctantly, handed the nurse over so she could 'walk' the other man. As he watched her walk away, he happened to hear a small group of American soldiers talking and stopped when he heard exactly what they were saying.

123

Winters had decided that a short break outside of the office would not be laziness on his part, so he decided to step outside for a few minutes. He noticed this happened to be a rather busy street and even noticed a small group of American soldiers lingering a few buildings over. He didn't know what company they were from, but he was fairly certain they were replacements. He smiled softly when he saw Liebgott and Chris walking down the road. Liebgott visibly softened whenever the gentle nurse was around and Winters knew that they would never leave each other. 'If only those two could see it,' he thought, shaking his head.

He watched as the nurse moved from the dark-haired man over to the redhead. Chris made sure to spend extra time with Malarkey, Winters had noticed. It was really helping the man. Winters had been worried after Bastogne when the normally cheerful man seemed to have lost the will to smile. But their trusty nurse seemed to know exactly what the lost man needed and he was gaining some of his old spark.

Winters was preparing himself to leave his resting spot against the wall to go back in and finish his paperwork when he saw Liebgott stop walking. Winters paused, then ran over after Liebgott started throwing punches. "Stop," he yelled. Well, he really just raised his voice, since Winters never yelled (unless bullets were flying and bombs were dropping). He had to physically pull Liebgott away, but the rest backed off without a second warning. "What is going on here?" he demanded.

Liebgott turned his head to the side and spat before answering. "These bastards were insulting Chris, sir."

The other group knew they were in trouble when the Major stiffened. They seemed to freeze under the icy-glare he was now giving them. "What, exactly, did you say?" he asked them.

One of the men spoke up. It wouldn't do to ignore a commanding officer, after all. "Well, sir. Um, we were just saying how beautiful that girl was and how we wouldn't mind talking to her-"

"Bullshit!" Liebgott explained. He turned to Winters before explaining what he actually heard. "They were saying she was, she was a loose broad and wouldn't mind taking her out for a spin, since she didn't seem to mind screwing all of us!" Now both men of Easy were bright red and furious.

"I suggest you men make yourself scarce before I write you up for harassing a nurse. Colonel Sink, I am sure, would love to hear what exactly you said about his favorite nurse." The men wasted no time in scattering.

Winters sighed, calming his anger. It would do no good to go sign papers while so mad. He looked over at Liebgott, trying to gauge what would need to be done to keep the young man out of trouble. Liebgott was clenching his hands and his teeth, but didn't seem ready to run off and finish beating them. 'Hmph, Chris really has calmed him down,' Winters mused. 'Maybe we can sell her services for anger-management therapy."

Liebgott still hadn't spoken, and he hadn't relaxed at all. "Liebgott?" Winters ventured.

"Sir, they were-"

Winters held up his hand to stop the other man's explanations. "Don't worry about it. I understand, but I can't let you keep attacking people, no matter what they do. I'll let you go, but don't punch anyone, okay?" Winters knew it would be a bit much to ask, but a man could hope.

Liebgott was frustrated that Winters stopped him, but then he came up with a devious plan for retribution. "Sir, permission to inform Lieutenant Speirs of the incident?"

Unfortunately for Liebgott, he hadn't quite thought his plan through. Winters immediately denied his request. "No. Not one word to Speirs. If he knew of this, I would be swamped with paperwork, explaining why a small group of soldiers disappeared at the same time one of my officers was unaccounted for."

"But sir," Joe protested, "No one would have to know it was Speirs. You could say that those idiots wandered off. We'll cover for him even."

Winters wearily replied. Although the idea was tempting, he couldn't allow it. "No, Joe. There is no guarantee how he would handle the situation. I order not to tell anyone of this. Now go back to the barracks."

Joe sighed in disappointment, his anger gone. He'd go back and play some rounds of poker with the boys until Chris got back.


End file.
